THE  MAKING 

of 

THE  WORLD 


UC-NRLF 


I 


8y       ^ 


ME  YER 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


THE  MAKING  OF 
THE  WORLD 


BY 

DR.  M.  WILHELM  MEYER 

AUTHOR  OF  "  THE  END  OF  THE  WORLD  " 


TRANSLATED  BY  ERNEST  UNTERMAN 


CHICAGO 
CHARLES  H.  KERR  &  COMPANY 

CO-OPEBATIVE 


Copyright,     1906 
?Y  CHARLES  H.  KERR  &  COMPANT 


_ 

LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

1.  Corona  of  the  Sun  during  a  Total  Eclipse 

2.  The  Nebula  in  Orion,  after  a  drawing  made  at  the 

Washington,  D.  C,   Observatory. 

3.  Spiral     Nebula   in   Canes   Venatici.     Photographic 

plate  of  Yerkes  observatory. 

4.  Nebula      in    Andromeda.     Photographic    plate    of 

Yerkes  observatory. 

5.  Granulation   of  the    Sun's    Surface.     Photographic 

plate  of  Meudon  (France)   observatory. 

6.  Star  Cluster  in  the  Centaur. 

7.  Milky  Way  in  6  Anseris.     Photographic  plate  by 

Professor  Wolf  of  Heidelberg. 

8.  America     Nebula.     Photographic     plate    by     Pro- 

fessor  Wolf  of  Heidelberg. 

9.  Sunspots,  after  the  photographic  sun  atlas  of  the 

Meudon  observatory. 

10.  Protuberances   at    the    circumference    of   the    sun. 

The  sun  is  eclipsed  by  the  moon. 

11.  Geyser  in  Yellowstone  Park,  Rocky  Mountains. 

12.  A  Crease  in  the  Rocks  on  Axen  Road,  Switzerland. 

13.  A  Cambrian  Trilobite. 

14.  Silurian  Crawfish,  after  Fraas. 

15.  A  Devonian  Fish  with  Armored  Shell,  after  Zittel, 

Palaeozoology. 

16.  Landscape  from  the  Carboniferous  Period. 

17.  Ichthyosaurus  from  the  English  Lias,  after  Owen. 

18.  Skeleton   of   Plesiosaurus   from  the  English  Lias, 

after  Fraas. 

19.  Ceratosaurus,  a  giant  Lizard  from  the  Jura.    Re- 

stored by  Gleeson  in  the  Smithsonian  Reports. 

20.  Pterodactylus  from  the  Solnhofen  Slate,  after  H. 

von  Meyer. 

21.  Archaeopteryx  from  Solnhofen,  now  at  the  Berlin 

Museum,  after  Zittel,  Palaeozoology. 

22.  Petrified    Leaves,    found    in    Spitzbergen,   after    a 

photographic  plate  by  the  author. 

23.  Triceratops,  a  Pachyderm  of  the  Tertiary  Period, 

after  a  model  by  Ch.  R.  Knight  in  Washington 
Museum. 

24.  Mastodon   (restored)    from  the  time  of  the  Dilu- 

vium, after  Smithsonian  Reports. 
3 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

"  Spring  will  surely  come  again."  Every  hu- 
man heart  feels  it  in  the  dark  days  of  every  win- 
ter. Day  and  night,  summer  and  winter,  cannot 
cease  to  follow  one  another.  There  must  be  an 
eternal  succession  of  birth,  death,  and  ever  new 
resurrection.  And  when  the  young  green  and 
flowers  come  in  the  new  spring,  then  millions  of 
beings,  as  though  produced  by  magic,  appear 
from  the  dark  soil,  the  air,  and  the  water.  It 
seems  as  though  everything  would  come  to  life 
once  more.  The  tiny  seed  compels  the  dead 
earth  all  around  it  to  unite  with  it  and  to  share  its 
germination,  flowering,  and  generation  of  thou- 
sands of  seeds  out  of  one.  Millions  and  millions 
of  miraculously  organized  living  beings  rise  every 
spring,  after  the  winter  had  strangled  other  mil- 
lions with  his  cold  fists. 

Will  it  really  be  always  like  that  ?  In  a  former 
volume  of  this  library  I  have  shown  that  worlds 
come  to  an  end,  that  our  world  likewise  will  cease 
to  have  day  and  night,  winter  and  summer.  But 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

just  as  for  innumerable  of  the  minutest  living  be- 
ings, whose  existence  extends  only  over  a  few 
hours  or  minutes,  a  single  daily  revolution  of  this 
globe  is  the  equivalent  of  an  entire  period  of 
world-creation,  bounded  on  either  side  apparently 
by  eternal  night  and  immobility,  so  it  is  permissi- 
ble for  us  to  assume  that  the  beginning  and  end 
of  this  world,  as  we  know  it,  are  but  the  bound- 
aries of  one  day  of  a  greater  cycle,  of  which  we 
microscopic  animals  on  this  globe  cannot  know 
anything,  and  that,  therefore,  day  and  night,  win- 
ter and  summer,  in  a  wider  meaning,  will  not 
cease  for  all  that,  if  we  rise  to  higher  stages  of 
evolution  in  the  universe. 

The  beginning  of  a  world  is  but  like  a  new 
spring,  which  reaches  down  into  the  matter  of 
defunct  world-systems  with  new  creative  energy, 
which  makes  worlds  germinate  and  blossom,  just 
in  the  same  way  that  we  observe  with  rapture  all 
around  us  in  our  beautiful  terrestrial  nature. 

The  question  is  now:  Where  shall  we  begin 
our  study  in  trying  to  witness  the  origin  of  some 
world  with  our  mental  vision  ?  Our  terrestrial 
spring  is  an  immense  world  creation.  Just  real- 
ize that  every  molecule  joining  its  mates  in  every 
rising  germ  is  a  world-system  of  atoms,  more 
complicated  in  its  structure  and  movements  than 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

our  entire  solar  system.  Everything  builds  itself, 
compelled  by  invisible  forces,  from  the  inanimate 
simple  elements  of  the  soil  and  forms  wonderful 
organisms.  These  world  creations  of  nature  are 
full  of  the  deepest  mysteries. 

But  we  generally  mean  by  the  term  world  that 
far  cruder  composition  of  matter  which  consti- 
tutes our  earth,  the  solar  system,  and  finally  that 
largest  aggregation  of  worlds  known  to  us,  which 
we  shall  see  later  at  closer  range  as  the  Milky 
Way.  How  did  these  worlds  come  into  exist- 
ence? That  is  the  question  which  we  shall  try 
to  answer  in  this  volume. 

A  thing  arises  —  out  of  what  ?  It  cannot  come 
out  of  nothing.  We  must  assume  that  the  sub- 
stance of  the  world  is  present  from  eternity. 
Only  let  us  imagine  that  it  was  in  a  state  of  com- 
plete chaos,  without  any  organization,  so  that 
each  particle  of  matter  was  not  in  touch  with  its 
environment  and  moved  independently  of  all  oth- 
ers in  space.  This  would  be  a  picture  of  the  low- 
est stage"  of  world  evolution  which  we  can 
imagine,  a  stage  touching  the  last  phase  of  that 
other  half  of  a  world  cycle  which  ends  in  dissolu- 
tion. A  mighty  collision  of  two  extinct  worlds 
may,  at  a  certain  time,  have  disrupted  all  organ- 
izations of  matter,  dissolving  even  the  atomic  sys- 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

terns  of  the  chemists  into  their  ultimate  primordial 
atoms.  The  sudden  flaring  up  of  a  new  star  in 
the  constellation  of  Perseus,  which  we  observed 
in  February,  1901,  would  be  an  illustration  of 
such  an  event.  Two  or  more  dark  world  bodies 
had  there  met  with  a  speed  of  1000  kilometers  per 
second,  and  a  resplendent  nebular  substance  ema- 
nated from  the  center  of  the  collision,  spreading 
through  space  in  a  spiral  with  the  velocity  of 
light.  Only  the  mysterious  processes  connected 
with  radium  offer  an  explanation  for  that  phe- 
nomenon in  the  farthest  recesses  of  the  heavens, 
where  in  the  course  of  a  few  months  a  territory 
exceeding  that  of  our  solar  system  150  times  had 
been  refilled  with  matter  of  the  most  infinitesimal 
structure.  Radium  also  sends  out  every  minute 
particles  of  matter  with  the  velocity  of  light,  the 
so-called  electrons,  which  scatter  in  space  without 
any  mutual  cohesion.  And  if  radium  were  pres- 
ent in  sufficient  quantities,  these  particles  would 
form  just  such  a  shining  nebula  as  we  observed 
around  that  new  star. 

We  may  at  least  assume  then,  that  the  primor- 
dial atoms,  or  electrons,  which  filled  the  space 
around  that  star  in  an  inconceivably  diffuse  condi- 
tion, are  actually  the  simplest  stones  which  have 
built  up,  not  only  the  world  of  chemical  atoms 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

and  molecules,  but  also  that  of  the  celestial  bodies. 
They  represent  that  lowest  stage  which  is  the 
starting  point  of  our  discussion. 

We  take  it  for  granted  that  that  world,  which 
was  thus  dissolved  into  its  primordial  state,  had 
seen  better  days  before  its  end  came.  How  can  it 
be  that  the  same  natural  forces,  which  led  it 
slowly  or  suddenly  toward  its  destruction,  begin 
from  that  moment  to  lift  the  same  matter  into 
new  life  ?  How  can  the  trend  of  world  evolution 
be  so  completely  reversed?  The  phenomena  of 
terrestrial  life,  though  vastly  different  in  their 
external  aspects  from  those  of  world  processes, 
give  a  satisfactory  reply  to  this  question.  Our 
bodies,  after  passing  the  climax  of  their  develop- 
ment, move  gradually  toward  their  decline  and 
dissolution,  the  same  as  all  things  in  the  universe. 
By  themselves,  by  their  own  unaided  powers,  they 
could  not  propagate  their  kind.  They  would  all 
irresistibly  decline,  were  it  not  for  a  compelling 
desire  which  urges  two  of  different  sex  to  mate. 
At  the  moment  of  their  union,  different  parts  of 
these  two  bodies  begin  to  change  their  course  of 
development  in  an  ascending  direction.  A  new 
organism  germinates  and  grows  within  another, 
which  had  completed  its  growing  stage.  It  is 
universal  love  which  creates  the  world  of  life ;  but 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  creative  forces  of  that  love  are  active  also  in 
the  so-called  dead  matter  of  inorganic  nature. 

Millions  of  world  bodies  hasten  through  space, 
apparently  without  any  definite  goal.  We  see 
them  going  in  all  directions  in  the  heavens,  so  far 
as  they  become  visible  to  us  at  all  in  their  capacity 
of  suns.  Other  millions  have  no  doubt  become 
extinct  long  ago,  but  still  they  may  pursue  their 
course  through  the  void  and  dark  of  space,  ap- 
parently without  any  rule  or  law,  without  any  des- 
tiny. They  have  not  joined  any  known  group  of 
worlds,  so  far  as  we  can  tell,  although  we  must 
assume  that  they  belong  to  the  most  stupendous 
of  all  systems,  the  Milky  Way.  They  could 
never  generate  out  of  themselves  a  new  impulse 
which  would  lead  them  towards  a  new  rise. 
Driven  by  vague  feelings  they  are  compelled  to 
look  for  their  mates  in  the  recesses  of  the  uni- 
verse. And  if  two  well  mated  world  bodies  meet 
and  mutually  transfuse  one  another  in  the  wild 
longing  for  a  new  life,  a  mighty  heat  permeates 
their  interiors,  and  a  new  world-being,  composed 
of  myriads  of  world-germs,  which  are  hurled  in 
all  directions  by  the  old  bodies,  fertilizes  the  void 
around  it  once  more.  A  new  star  blazes  forth. 

It  is  but  rarely  that  such  events  take  place  in 
the  heavens.  And  only  the  very  greatest  will  be- 

10 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

come  visible  in  our  field  of  observation.  The  two 
most  imposing  phenomena  of  this  kind  were  wit- 
nessed in  1572  and  1901.  The  first  of  these  was 
the  Tychonic  star,  the  other  the  previously  men- 
tioned star  in  Perseus.  But  since  we  have  begun 
to  keep  a  close  account  of  celestial  occurrences  by 
means  of  photographic  plates,  we  find  more  and 
more  frequently  among  the  millions  of  stars  one 
which  has  not  been  registered  by  older  plates, 
which  must,  therefore,  have  been  born  recently. 
It  is  worthy  of  note  that  most  of  the  new  stars 
appear  precisely  in  those  regions  of  space  where 
the  stars  are  most  thickly  crowded.  Here  they 
can  find  one  another  most  easily  for  the  stupen- 
dous act  of  world  generation.  This  is  no  more 
strange  than  it  is  that  the  greatest  number  of  chil- 
dren are  born  in  the  most  thickly  populated  dis- 
tricts. 

A  luminous  nebula  was  observed  not  onh 
around  the  new  speck  of  light  in  Perseus,  but  also 
around  the  new  star  discovered  in  the  constella- 
tion of  Auriga.  But  only  in  the  case  of  the  for- 
mer was  it  possible  to  ascertain  the  immense 
velocity  of  its  expansion.  It  was  this  velocity 
which  suggested  the  thought  that  the  expelled 
substance  might  be  radium,  or  rather  its  emana- 
tion. I  cannot  refrain  at  this  point  from  repeat- 

11 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

ing  a  thought  which  I  expressed  once  before  in 
another  place.  It  is  well  known  that  radium  is 
one  of  the  heaviest  substances  which  we  handle. 
For  this  reason,  apart  from  others,  it  is  very 
probable  that  the  earth  and  other  celestial  bodies 
contain  large  quantities  of  this  wonderful  sub- 
stance. It  may  be  that  it  is  not  formed  in  the 
interior  of  these  bodies  until  after  millions  of 
years  of  such  pressure  as  exists  there.  Now, 
when  two  world  bodies  collide  and  shatter  one 
another,  it  is  as  though  a  pod  of  some  fruit  filled 
with  seeds  bursts  open  in  spring,  after  having 
lasted  through  the  long  winter.  It  scatters  its 
seeds  all  about  and  new  life  will  sprout  out  of 
them. 

Such  nebular  formations  as  those  surrounding 
those  new  stars  exist  in  large  numbers  in  the 
heavens.  They  do  not  seem  to  vary,  so  far  as 
we  can  tell.  But  we  must  remember  that  we  are 
separated  from  them  by  immeasurably  great  dis- 
tances, so  that  movements  which  take  place  with 
the  immense  velocity  of  300,000  kilometers  per 
second,  as  they  do  in  the  case  of  the  nebula 
around  the  new  star  in  Perseus,  appear  to  us  so 
small,  that  the  path  described  by  the  light  in 
months  of  time  makes  only  a  few  millimeters  on 
the  magnified  photograms.  Therefore  the  mat- 

13 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

ter  in  those  permanent  nebulae  may  be  whirled 
about  with  a  relatively  great  velocity  of  hundreds 
of  kilometers,  and  yet  we  may  not  be  able  to  per- 
ceive this  in  the  short  time,  in  which  we  have 
securely  fixed  the  impression  of  those  formations 
on  a  sensitive  plate.  But  this  impression  is  suffi- 
cient in  many  cases  to  prove  that  they  owe  their 
existence  and  form  to  catastrophes  similar  to 
those  which  our  eyes  witnessed;  so  to  say,  in  the 
flaring  up  of  those  new  stars.  The  largest  forma- 
tion of  this  kind,  which  we  know  in  the  heavens, 
is  the  nebula  in  Orion,  an  illustration  of  which  is 
given  here.2  It  is  especially  interesting  in  view 
of  the  preceding  remarks.  We  observe  that  the 
luminant  mass  has  been  wildly  agitated,  and  yet 
there  is  a  certain  order,  which  plainly  betrays 
signs  of  a  former  catastrophe,  by  which  this  dis- 
tribution of  the  matter  was  caused.  From  the  top, 
a  dark  space  cuts  into  the  nebular  mass,  which  is 
sharply  defined  by  it  at  that  end.  In  front  of  this 
dark  space,  which  has  been  named  the  Lion's 
Mouth,  the  matter  is  particularly  concentrated  in 
the  center  of  the  nebula,  as  though  it  had  been 
compressed  by  some  invading  body.  We  see  in- 
deed at  this  very  point  a  cluster  of  small  stars, 

2  Figures   in  text  refer  to  cuts,   with  correspond- 
ing numbers  in  appendix. 

13 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

which  may  very  likely  have  been  the  intruders. 
The  remainder  of  the  matter  is  grouped  around 
the  Lion's  Mouth,  just  as  if  it  were  radiating  from 
there  into  space.  Let  us  suppose  for  a  moment 
that  we  have  blown  a  cloud  of  tobacco  smoke  into 
the  air,  and  then,  after  the  smoke  has  somewhat 
settled,  let  a  short  puff  of  air  act  upon  a  portion 
of  this  cloud.  A  gap  like  the  Lion's  Mouth 
would  thus  be  formed,  and  the  remainder  of  the 
mass  would  at  the  same  time  be  thrown  into  a 
whirling  motion.  Now,  photography  has  actu- 
ally 'demonstrated  that  a  very  dim  spiral  of  a 
nebular  streak  emanates  from  the  original  nebula 
in  Orion,  surrounding  in  a  gigantic  circle  the  en- 
tire constellation  of  Orion.  It  is  hardly  possible 
to  imagine  that  anything  but  an  actual  shock 
could  have  started  this  whirling  motion. 

Quite  a  number  of  such  spiral  formations, 
many  of  them  showing  the  spiral  outline  still 
more  clearly,  are  to  be  found  in  the  heavens,  par- 
ticularly since  the  photographic  plate  penetrates 
eVer  more  deeply  into  their  mysteries  and  discov- 
ers, by  means  of  many  hours  of  exposure  to  the 
light,  more  details  of  those  dimly  shining  clouds, 
than  the  giant  telescopes  could  ever  directly  show 
to  the  eye. 

The  most  famous  of  those  spiral  nebulae  is  that 

14 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

in  the  Canes  Venatici,  shown  in  the  accompanying 
illustration  after  a  photogram  of  the  Yerkes  ob- 
servatory near  Chicago.3  We  see  at  the  end  of 
the  spiral  a  nebular  ball,  whose  intrusion  may  be 
assumed  to  have  been  once  upon  a  time  the  cause 
of  the  whirling  motion. 

Of  course,  we  do  not  see  all  these  objects  just 
in  the  plane  of  their  greatest  extension,  but  often 
only  in  a  foreshortened  form.  For  instance,  the 
great  nebula  of  Andromeda,  shown  in  another 
illustration,  whose  spiral  nature  was  discovered 
only  after  being  photographed,  appears  as  a  flat 
lens,  which  is  seen  from  our  standpoint  in  the 
direction  of  its  edges,  and  we  note  in  a  fore- 
shortened perspective,  that  several  turns  of  the 
nebular  mass  are  winding  around  one  another. 
In  this  case,  a  ball  of  nebula  floats  likewise  a  lit- 
tle outside  of  the  turns.4 

In  view  of  all  these  evidences,  we  can  hardly 
doubt  that  the  first  impulse  for  that  rotating  mo- 
tion of  world-bodies,  which  we  see  later  uniting 
into  solar  systems,  was  given  by  a  collision  of  two 
world-bodies,  or  two  masses  of  nebulae,  or  aggre- 
gations of  matter  in  various  stages  of  develop- 
ment. 

In  the  case  of  the  nebula  around  the  new  star  in 
Perseus,  the  movement  of  the  radiating  bunches 

15 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  light  showed  also  a  spiral  nature.  Evidently 
it  represents  the  embryo  of  a  world  body,  whose 
very  first  impregnation  we  witnessed.  What  a 
pity  that  we  are  so  short-lived  and  cannot  observe 
the  development  of  this  new  world-being  any  fur- 
ther! For  it  will  probably  take  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  years,  before  new  stages  of  its 
growth  will  become  noticeable. 

But  while  we  cannot  watch  this  in  the  case  of 
some  one  individual  world-body,  we  can  follow 
stellar  development  in  a  whole  series  of  them, 
which  are  now  in  the  heavens,  by  arranging  them 
according  to  stages  of  development.  The  anal- 
ogy has  been  pointed  out  several  times,  that  in 
the  case  of  the  development  of  the  chicken  from 
the  egg  to  the  adult  stage  we  do  not  necessarily 
have  to  study  one  and  the  same  individual  in  its 
different  metamorphoses,  but  may  just  as  well 
study  the  various  generations  living  simultane- 
ously in  the  same  yard. 

Now,  we  find  indeed  in  the  heavens  all  the 
stages  of  development  from  that  primitive,  minute 
dissemination  of  matter,  which  we  saw  in  the  first 
stages  of  the  nebula  around  the  new  star  in  Per- 
seus, to  the  perfect  systems  of  stars  and  suns. 
We  shall  let  them  pass  in  review  one  by  one,  in 
such  a  way  that  we  may  recognize  the  necessity 

16 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  their  development  along  this  road  out  of  the 
forces  and  conditions  of  nature  known  to  us. 

TO  this  end  we  must  return  once  more  to  that 
very  first  stage  of  world-creation,  the  classic  illus- 
tration of  which  is  furnished  by  the  repeatedly 
cited  Nova  Persei.  We  shall,  in  so  doing,  also 
revert  to  our  previous  assumption  that  matter 
resumed  in  that  region  its  very  primitive  condi- 
tion, that  of  the  arch-atoms,  or  electrons.  For 
this  gives  us  an  opportunity  to  review  with  our 
mind's  eye  the  making  of  a  world  from  its  very 
lowest  beginnings.  In  reality,  however,  many  of 
the  declining  worlds  may  not  have  completely  re- 
verted to  this  most  primitive  condition,  before 
they  received  a  new  impulse  toward  generation. 

Now,  whence  do  we  get  the  forces  of  nature 
which  make  for  a  new  arrangement  of  the  cha- 
otic mass  of  freely  circling  atoms  and  lead  them 
gradually  to  those  wonderful  organizations  which 
build  up  our  blossoming  world?  After  the  end 
of  a  world,  such  as  we  have  described,  we  can 
avail  ourselves  only  of  those  minutest  building 
stones,  the  arch-atoms,  which  we  see  speeding 
through  space  in  a  straight  line  with  an  equal  and 
extraordinary  velocity.  It  is  the  problem  of  sci- 
ence to  explain  this  stupendous  structure  by  the 
simplest  qualities  of  the  primordial  atoms.  How 

17 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

far  we  still  are  from  such  an  explanation!  But 
this  atomic  world  from  which  we  must  proceed 
to  that  of  the  celestial  bodies,  if  we  would  thor- 
oughly understand  their  origin  and  organization, 
is  precisely  the  one  in  which  things  begin  to  clar- 
ify of  late.  It  becomes  ever  more  evident  that 
the  same  general  order  which  holds  the  immense 
world-bodies  together  extends  also  to  this  finest 
arrangement  of  matter,  that  we  may  understand 
the  world  of  atoms  by  the  world  of  celestial 
bodies,  and  vice  versa,  that  we  may  study  the  way 
in  which  suns  turn  back  into  atoms  of  the  uni- 
verse. By  analyzing  the  structure  of  atoms,  we 
learn  to  understand  also  that  of  the  world-bodies. 
Let  us,  therefore,  devote  just  a  short  while  to  the 
study  of  the  atomic  organization  as  seen  by  mod- 
ern science. 

It  has  been  found  that  the  bodies  called  atoms 
by  the  chemist  and  molecules  by  the  physicist  rep- 
resent very  complicated  systems  of  worlds,  minute 
though  they  seem  to  us.  There  was  a  time  when 
chemical  atoms  were  regarded  as  indivisible. 
Hence  they  received  their  name.  By  means  of 
the  experimental  aids  of  our  present  time,  we  can- 
not even  now  dissect  the  chemical  atoms  into 
smaller  particles.  But  the  proportions  of  the 
atomic  weights,  which  have  been  very  accurately 

18 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

determined,  clearly  indicate  a  systematic  ar- 
rangement of  their  elements.  The  atomic 
weights  increase  by  gradations  of  integral  num- 
bers. This  led  to  the  idea  that  atoms  are  built 
up  from  arch-atoms  in  such  a  way  that  a  definite 
number  of  these  combined  to  form  an  atom  of  a 
certain  element.  One  might  have  assumed,  for 
instance,  that  one  atom  of  helium  is  built  up  of 
four  atoms  of  hydrogen,  because  the  former 
weighs  exactly  four  times  as  much  as  the  latter. 
In  reality,  the  thing  is  evidently  not  quite  so  sim- 
ple. Or,  one  might  think  that  one  atom  of  sul- 
phur consists  of  two  atoms  of  oxygen,  for  sulphur 
is  exactly  twice  as  heavy  as  oxygen.  Similar 
proportions  are  found  in  the  atomic  weights  of  all 
other  chemical  elements,^  and  it  is  a  fact  that  all 
their  chemical  and  physical  qualities  depend  on 
these  atomic  weights.  Solely  the  atomic  weight 
and  the  arrangement  of  the  atoms  determines  all 
qualities  of  matter.  An  atom  twice  as  heavy  as 
another  atom  is  also  twice  as  inert  in  its  chemical 
reactions,  provided  its  arrangement  is  the  same. 
In  short,  it  becomes  ever  plainer  that  we  shall 
some  day  explain  all  physical  and  chemical  phe- 
nomena, that  is  to  say  in  the  last  analysis,  the  en- 
tire world  closely  surrounding  us,  by  a  conglom- 


19 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

eration  of  arch-atoms  into  gradually  increasing 
and  differentiated  groups. 

In  that  case,  then,  we  could  look  upon  the 
world  of  atoms  with  all  its  qualities  as  having 
arisen  from  a  great  variety  of  differently  ar- 
ranged arch-atoms.  It  would  not  be  hard  to 
understand  how  this  might  have  taken  place. 
For  we  have  seen  that  these  minutest  particles  of 
matter  whirl  wildly  about  after  the  end  of  some 
world.  Under  such  circumstances  it  seems  nat- 
ural that  two  of  them  should  meet  here  and  there 
and  stay  closely,  or  more  or  less  so,  together. 
This  builds  out  of  the  primodial  matter  a  bi- 
atomic  body  with  different  qualities.  Other 
bodies  of  similar  structure  may  then  combine 
with  them,  or  unite  with  them  into  a  group,  in- 
divisible for  us,  but  nevertheless  composed  of  four 
arch-atoms,  and  so  forth  up  to  the  heaviest  atoms 
known  to  us.  Now  the  lightest  atom  of  chemis- 
try, that  of  hydrogen,  consists  on  this  assumption 
of  at  least  2,000  of  those  arch-atoms,  and  the 
heaviest  atom,  that  of  radium  (which,  according 
to  Runge  and  Precht,  is  245  times  heavier  than 
hydrogen)  would  consist  of  not  less  than  half  a 
million  of  individual  arch-atoms,  and  these  would 
not  be  closely  packed  like  the  bricks  in  a  building, 
but  circling  around  a  common  center  with  rela- 

20 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

tively  large  intervals  between  them.  We  draw 
this  conclusion  from  the  behavior  of  these  atoms 
in  the  molecules,  which  consist  of  groups  of  atoms 
which  we  can  separate.  In  the  molecules,  we  can 
study  by  experiment  the  manner  of  arrangement 
and  qualities  of  atoms.  A  molecule  of  this  kind 
presents  to  us  the  spectacle  of  a  very  complex 
world-system  on  a  small  scale.  It  may  contain 
millions  of  individual  world-bodies.  The  atoms 
may  be  likened  to  the  planets  with  their  systems 
of  moons.  But  none  of  the  planets  of  our  sun 
has  more  than  eight  moons,  or  at  best  nine,  as 
may  be  the  case  with  Saturn,  while  an  atomic 
planet  may  be  composed  of  thousands  of  individ- 
ual bodies,  and  thousands  of  such  composite  atoms 
may  be  swinging  through  one  molecule. 

In  these  minute  spaces,  eternally  invisible  for 
us,  the  essential  processes  of  the  universe  take 
place.  Whatever  we  may  notice  of  them  is  but  a 
magnified  reproduction  of  events  passing  on  a 
lower  level,  and  even  this  reproduction  is  fre- 
quently obscured  for  our  perceptions  on  account 
of  the  pecularity  of  our  sense  organs,  which  ap- 
prehend a  whole  series  of  processes  as  though  it 
were  one  single  act  and  thus  lose  the  peculiar 
characteristics  of  the  individual  processes  of  such 
a  composite  perception.  For  instance,  we  hear  a 

21 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

certain  sound  as  though  it  were  one  thing,  while 
it  really  consists  of  a  large  number  of  individual 
vibrations. 

An  understanding  of  the  atomic  world  would 
require  in  the  last  analysis  an  explanation  of  all 
natural  forces  active  in  it,  such  as  the  gravitation 
which  holds  the  atoms  together  and  also  guides 
the  individual  bodies  in  the  atoms  and  molecules 
around  a  common  center  like  the  celestial  bodies 
in  the  greater  cosmos;  the  electricity  which  may 
some  day  serve  to  explain  also  all  chemical  proc- 
esses ;  the  phenomena  of  heat  which  regulate  the 
velocities  and  circumferences  of  the  orbits  in 
those  molecular  world  systems  according  to  laws 
explained  by  the  modern  theory  of  heat;  and  all 
other  phenomena,  for  instance  that  of  the  uniform 
velocity  and  rectilinear  movement  of  the  arch- 
atoms.  So  far  as  this  can  be  done  in  our  time,  I 
have  tried  to  present  the  matter  in  a  larger  work 
entitled  The  Forces  of  Nature.  For  instance,  I 
have  endeavored  to  illustrate  in  this  larger  work 
how  the  attraction  between  two  large  bodies 
might  be  explained  through  the  pushing  power  of  < 
very  minute  masses  of  particles  moving  in  a 
straight  line.  If  the  ro-called  world-ether  con- 
sists X)f  such  arch-atoms,  which  speed  through 
space  'with  the  velocity  of  light,  then  the  collisions 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  these  arch-atoms,  or  ether-atoms,  with  the 
smallest  world-bodies,  the  chemical  atoms  and 
physical  molecules,  would  explain  their  apparent 
mutual  attraction  and  all  the  laws  of  their  move- 
ments, so  that  eventually  it  would  not  be  neces- 
sary any  longer  to  assume  a  special  force  of 
gravitation  mysteriously  radiating  from  matter. 

We  assumed  that  such  simple  arch-atoms  were 
moving  about  in  our  primitive  nebula,  and  we 
may,  therefore,  understand  under  the  preceding 
conditions,  how  the  atoms  in  process  of  forma- 
tic.,  and  gradual  agglomeration  may  seem  to  at- 
tract one  another,  and  why  they  must  form  by 
means  of  combination  those  very  minute  world- 
systems  with  their  swinging  motions,  under  the 
influence  of  the  unallied  ether-atoms. 

Thus  we  see  this  minute  micro-cosmos  arising, 
accesible  to  our  theoretical  research,  if  not  to  our 
sense  organs.  We  see  it  assuming  a  more  per- 
fect organization  to  the  extent  that  the  small 
groups  of  individual  bodies  unite  into  larger  sys- 
tems proceeding  on  a  common  course  in  the  tur- 
moil of  their  historical  stage. 

But  every  individual,  every  atom,  molecule,  ani- 
mated being,  world-body,  is  limited  in  its  growth 
to  a  definite  extent.  Every  form  ia  the  universe 
has  its  time  of  rising  childhood  and  adolescence, 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  full  manhood,  and  of  senility  gradually  disin- 
tegrating toward  death.  In  recent  times  we  have 
found  indications  that  even  the  chemical  atoms, 
which  have  so  long  been  regarded  as  the  most 
unalterable  part  of  nature,  are  growing  and  de- 
clining, that  they  were  not  created  for  once  and 
all  by  the  first  world-process,  but  are  still  altering, 
however  slowly.  Under  these  circumstances,  an 
atom  of  a  certain  element  may  even  nowadays 
transmute  itself  into  an  atom  of  some  other  ele- 
ment. And  there  is  at  least  one  case  in  which 
this  has  been  observed.  It  is  that  of  the  very 
wonderful  radium. 

It  seems  that  the  radium  atom  has  grown,  un- 
der the  tremendous  pressure  in  the  interior  of  the 
earth,  to  a  size  which  interferes  with  its  further 
development  under  normal  conditions.  Colli- 
sions of  its  rotating  individual  constituents  seem 
to  occur  continually  in  the  interior  of  this  largest 
of  atoms,  for  we  may  observe  that  an  uninter- 
rupted shower  of  those  very  minutest  particles, 
called  electrons,  radiates  from  it.  It  also  ejects 
larger  particles,  which,  however,  are  still  consid- 
erably smaller  than  the  smallest  chemical  atom, 
and  the  velocities  of  these  particles  vary  accord- 
ing to  their  sizes,  some  of  them  moving  with  the 
velocity  of  light.  Radium  represents  a  disinte- 

24 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

grating  atomic  world,  scattering  the  products  of 
its  dissolution  through  its  environing  space  in  the 
same  way  which  we  observed  in  Nova  Persei. 
And  then  it  was  seen  that  new  and  greater  atoms 
were  generated  out  of  the  products  of  this  disin- 
tegration. Ramsay  caught  this  emanation  of 
radium  in  a  glass  tube.  It  is  a  resplendent  gas  of 
such  extreme  rareness  that  we  cannot  determine 
its  atomic  weight.  But  in  a  few  days  he  witnessed 
the  miracle  of  a  gradual  and  steady  transforma- 
tion of  this  unknown  gas  into  helium,  the  second 
in  lightness  of  all  known  elements.  Before  our 
own  eyes,  as  it  were,  atoms  of  an  unknown  mi- 
nuteness had,  under  the  conditions  mentioned, 
combined  into  helium  atoms.  New  atomic 
worlds  had  been  generated. 

But  while  an  atom,  an  animated  being,  a  world- 
body,  individually,  cannot  grow  beyond  a  certain 
size,  they  have  on  the  other  hand  the  opportunity 
of  reorganizing  into  new  and  larger  bodies. 
Groups  of  atoms  become  molecules,  molecules  be- 
come the  visible  objects  around  us,  an  animate 
body  is  built  up  of  individual  cells,  and  we  may 
conceive  of  all  the  animate  organisms  of  our  globe 
as  mutually  interrelated  parts  of  a  uniform  and 
growing  organism.  Finally  aggregations  of 
molecules  become  world-bodies,  and  swarms  of 

25 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

suns  become  systems  of  Milky  Ways.  From  the 
invisible  micro-cosmos  of  the  atomic  world  we 
rise  once  more  into  the  celestial  spaces  of  the 
macro-cosmos,  which  becomes  as  incomprehensi- 
ble to  our  sense  organs  by  its  stupendous  exten- 
sion as  the  atomic  world  is  through  its  minute- 
ness. Now  let  us  trace  the  development  of  the 
celestial  bodies  in  this  greater  sphere. 

In  the  combination  of  primitive  substances  dur- 
ing a  new  world-process,  such  as  we  took  for  our 
point  of  departure,  the  matter  in  the  original  mass 
of  nebulae  will  not  be  equally  distributed  over  the 
region  of  the  process.  In  the  nebula  around 
Nova  Persei  we  plainly  noticed  several  distinct 
clusters  of  light.  In  the  process  of  condensation 
unequally  distributed  centers  are  formed,  and  the 
entire  mass  gradually  separates  into  distinct  clus- 
ters of  light,  provided  it  remains  luminous.  We 
actually  find  such  formations  in  the  heavens, 
nebulae  which  on  closer  observation  separate  into 
a  vast  number  of  individual  stars,  although  the 
spectroscope  betrays  without  a  doubt  the  gaseous 
nature  of  the  whole  mass.  These  are  starry  con- 
densations of  nebulae,  not  stars  or  suns  which 
are  liquid  at  least  on  their  surface. 

But  such  masses  of  nebulae  must  in  time  lose 
their  luminosity.  For  the  quality  of  effulgence 

26 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

without  a  glowing  state  is  solely  found  in  matter 
in  that  condition  in  which  it  radiates  small  parti- 
cles with  the  velocity  of  light,  a  condition  which 
we  observe  in  radium,  or  in  certain  electric  phe- 
nomena, such  as  the  cathode  and  Rontgen  rays 
under  certain  conditions.  But  our  mass  of  nebu- 
lae in  process  of  world-generation  must  be  of  the 
temperature  of  space,  that  is  to  say  a  temperature 
near  the  absolute  zero  point,  or  minus  273  centi- 
grade. To  the  extent  that  the  number  of  atoms 
and  other  particles  of  matter  increases  in  the 
process  of  condensation,  they  must  lose  their  ini- 
tial velocity.  Every  collision  will  result  in  a  loss 
of  motion.  In  the  present  case  there  would  not 
be  any  actual  loss,  for  we  have  assumed  that  the 
combining  particles  do  not  become  closely  packed 
and  immovable,  but  begin  at  once  to  rotate  in  the 
atoms,  molecules,  or  ultimately  in  the  circling 
spheres  which  we  watched  in  the  process  of  be- 
coming spiral  nebulae.  In  other  words,  their 
rectilinear  motion  becomes  a  rotating  one.  The 
rectilinear  motion  could  act  in  an  outward  direc- 
tion, for  instance  by  colliding  with  some  other 
mass.  But  the  circling  motion  is  an  internal  one 
which  cannot  manifest  itself  outwardly  except 
under  peculiar  circumstances.  This  second  mo- 
tion rather  determines  the  internal  qualities  of 

27 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

matter.  In  the  language  of  the  physicist,  live 
power,  or  kinetic  energy,  is  converted  into  latent 
power,  or  potential  energy. 

With  the  decrease  of  the  kinetic  energy  of  our 
nebular  mass  it  loses  its  luminosity,  and  our 
world-embryo  disappears  from  sight,  after  having 
been  the  object  of  study  for  all  inhabited 
spheres  of  the  universe  from  the  time  when  it  first 
made  its  sudden  entrance,  just  as  did  the  new  star 
in  Perseus.  But  the  process  of  condensation  con- 
tinues. Every  mass  left  to  its  own  devices  in 
space  condenses  more  and  more.  Under  the  in- 
fluence of  its  own  gravity  it  endeavors  to  concen- 
trate itself  into  an  ever  smaller  space,  unless  its 
rotating  motion  acts  as  a  counterbalance  to  this 
gravity,  as  it  does  in  the  case  of  the  planetary  ro- 
tation around  the  sun.  This  process  of  conden- 
sation converts  more  and  more  kinetic  energy  into 
potential  energy.  The  physicist  demonstrates, 
however,  that  the  phenomena  of  radiating  heat, 
and  later  of  light,  begin  to  manifest  themselves  as 
soon  as  the  rotation  of  the  atoms  in  the  molecule 
have  acquired  a  certain  speed.  This  is  due  to  an 
influence  of  this  rotation  upon  the  ether  of  uni- 
versal space.  This  ether,  which  according  to  our 
foregoing  remarks  consists  of  arch-atoms  moving 
with  uniform  speed  in  a  rectilinear  direction, 

28 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

transfers  the  oscillations  of  the  atoms  through 
space  to  other  bodies,  and  in  this  way  we  receive 
the  impressions  of  heat  and  light. 

The  young  world-body,  or  cluster  of  world- 
bodies,  into  which  the  nebular  mass  disintegrated, 
now  grows  gradually  warmer  to  the  extent  that 
it  becomes  denser.  It  begins  once  more  to  glow 
and  shine,  but  under  very  different  physical  con- 
ditions from  those  which  caused  the  luminosity  of 
the  very  rare  nebular  mass.  Since  the  pressure 
must  be  greatest  in  the  interior  of  the  world- 
globe,  because  more  matter  is  stratified  there,  it 
follows  that  the  interior  of  world-bodies  is  con- 
siderably hotter  than  their  surface.  We  know 
this  to  be  so  in  me  case  of  the  earth. 

Now,  the  process  of  condensation  cannot  pro- 
ceed continually  at  the  same  rate.  A  body  of 
some  density  cannot  be  as  strongly  compressed  as 
a  more  loosely  constituted  one.  Consequently  the 
development  of  heat  through  the  condensation  of 
a  certain  world-body  comes  gradually  to  an  end. 
The  body  at  first  radiates  as  much  heat  into  space 
as  it  can  reproduce  out  of  itself.  But  by  and  by 
it  cannot  reproduce  heat  at  this  rate.  It  cools 
off.  Of  course,  this  will  first  affect  its  surface 
which  is  in  direct  touch  with  cold  space.  At  a 
certain  time  the  transition  of  the  hitherto  gaseous 

29 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

mass  into  a  liquid  state  takes  place.  The  prin- 
ciple of  this  transformation  is  the  same  as  that  by 
which  the  vapor  of  water  rising  from  the  lower 
and  warmer  strata  of  the  air  into  the  higher  and 
cooler  ones  is  transformed  into  clouds  and  con- 
densed into  rain.  This  rising  vapor  comes  so 
close  to  cold  space  that  it  must  condense  into 
liquid  water.  The  clouds  consist  as  a  matter  of 
fact  of  liquid  water  which  begins  to  fall  in  the 
form  of  a  very  fine  spray.  But  in  many  cases 
the  drops  never  reach  the  surface  of  the  earth,  for 
in  their  fall  they  soon  pass  through  warmer  strata 
of  the  air  which  resolve  them  into  vapor.  Thus 
it  actually  rains  from  every  cloud,  only  the  rain 
does  not  always  reach  us.  If  the  earth  had  no 
solid  shell  on  which  water  could  be  precipitated 
and  collected,  there  would  nevertheless  be  a  con- 
tinuous circulation  of  water.  At  a  certain  dis- 
tance from  the  center  of  the  earth  clouds  would 
form  under  the  influence  of  the  invading  cold  of 
space,  and  these  clouds  would  bound  the  terres- 
trial gas  ball  at  least  for  the  outside  spectator,  al- 
though in  reality  it  would  be  gradually  losing 
itself  in  space.  Rain  would  be  continually  fall- 
ing from  this  hood  of  clouds.  But  at  a  certain 
altitude  the  rain-drops  would  always  find  a  tem- 
perature which  would  dissolve  them  once  more 

30 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

into  vapor.  This  vapor,  heated  and  lightened, 
would  again  rise  to  the  boundary  line  where  it 
would  be  condensed  into  clouds  and  drops,  in  or- 
der to  start  on  a  new  cycle  of  transformations. 
Within  definite  boundaries,  there  would  thus  take 
place  a  continuous  rising  and  falling  of  the  water 
in  its  two  aggregate  forms.  The  cloudy  surface 
of  the  globe  would,  therefore,  present  a  fairly 
constant  impression,  although  it  would  be  contin- 
uously renewing  itself,  while  above  and  below  it  a 
gaseous  state  would  exist,  the  density  of  which 
would  gradually  decrease  toward  the  outside. 

Our  sun  is  doubtless  at  present  in  this  condi- 
tion. However,  those  phenomena  of  condensa- 
tion in  his  case  are  not  due  to  watery  vapors,  but 
to  metallic  vapors,  the  temperatures  of  which 
must  vary  between  6,000  to  10,000  degrees  cen- 
tigrade. We  see  a  veil  of  clouds  drawn  across 
the  entire  surface  of  the  sun.  They  have  for  us 
a  similarity  with  cirrus  clouds,  which  float  in  the 
highest  regions  of  our  atmosphere.  The  accom- 
panying cut  depicts  this  so-called  granulation  of 
the  sun's  surface.5  In  order  to  give  the  reader  an 
idea  of  the  size  of  these  little  clouds,  I  mention 
the  fact  that  the  entire  diameter  of  the  earth 
would  occupy  less  than  one  centimeter  of  space 
in  this  cut.  The  stratum,  in  which  these  sun 

31 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

clouds  float,  is  the  so-called  photosphere  from 
which  the  most  intense  light  emanates.  The 
analysis  of  this  light  shows  that  it  emanates  over- 
whelmingly from  metallic  vapors.  But  there  are 
also  quite  a  number  of  other  elements,  familiar  to 
us,  in  a  gaseous  condition.  The  spectroscope  re- 
veals to  us  furthermore  that  these  gases  are  float- 
ing above  a  stratum  of  substances  in  the  state  of 
a  fiery  liquid,  just  as  we  assumed  a  while  ago 
from  purely  physical  considerations.  Above  this 
photosphere  there  is  the  chromosphere,  which  has 
received  its  name  from  its  beautiful  roseate  color. 
It  consists  mainly  of  hydrogen  and  helium,  the 
two  lightest  of  the  elements  known  to  us.  We 
see,  therefore,  that  the  gas  ball  of  the  sun  extends 
beyond  its  luminous  surface.  Outside  of  the 
chromosphere,  we  observe  at  the  time  of  solar 
eclipses  the  so-called  corona,  which  loses  itself 
gradually  in  space  in  the  form  of  rays,  as  shown 
by  the  cut  at  the  head  of  this  description.  The 
sun  is,  therefore,  by  no  means  a  well-defined 
globe,  but  an  aggregation  of  gases,  which  be- 
come condensed  at  a  certain  distance  from  the 
center,  and  the  luminous  products  of  this  conden- 
sation form  merely  the  semblance  of  a  boundary 
line  amid  the  surrounding  gases. 

Our  world-body,  then,  has  become  a  sun.     But 

32 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  primitive  nebula  will  develop  into  more  than 
one  single  sun.  We  have  already  seen  that  quite 
a  number  of  points  of  condensation  were  formed, 
and  every  one  6i  them  becomes  the  germ  of  a 
new  sun.  Our  vast  expanse  of  world-mist  be- 
comes a  star  cluster,  such  as  we  see  by  the  hun- 
dreds in  the  sky,  and  the  spectroscope  reveals  the 
fact  that  the  individual  stars  contained  in  them 
are  actually  suns,  that  is  to  say,  world-bodies  hav- 
ing liquid  condensations  under  an  atmosphere  of 
glowing  gases.  We  show  such  a  star  cluster  in 
the  accompanying  cut.6  It  is  found  in  the  constel- 
lation of  the  Centaur.  It  is  one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful of  its  kind.  A  more  wonderful  spectacle 
will  be  hard  to  find  than  that  presented  by  such 
a  cluster  of  stars  when  seen  through  a  good  tele- 
scope, a  glittering  multitude  of  suns  relieved  from 
the  deep  abyss  of  the  heavens  like  a  handful  of 
diamonds.  The  star  cluster  in  this  cut  shows  a 
notable  increase  of  the  number  of  stars  toward 
the  center.  We  observe  plainly  that  an  originally 
uniform  ball  of  mist  was  condensed  gradually  in 
its  center  to  the  extent  that  the  condensation  of 
the  individual  stars  proceeded.  Now  we  have 
before  us  a  system  of  suns  which  are  mutually 
related  by  common  descent  and  probably  revolve 
around  the  same  common  center. 

33 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

The  greatest  of  these  systems  of  suns  is  our 
Milky  Way.  The  latest  researches  have  sug- 
gested the  probability  that  this  system  does  not 
merely  seem  to  encircle  the  entire  heavens  with 
its  luminous  ring,  but  actually  occupies  the  entire 
universe  accessible  to  our  most  powerful  tele- 
scopes, so  that  all  other  bodies,  the  thousands  of 
nebulae,  star  clusters,  and  individual  suns,  includ- 
ing our  own  sun  with  our  earth,  belong  to  this 
immense  system  of  the  Milky  Way.  We  must 
occupy  ourselves  a  little  more  closely  with  this 
greatest  of  all  worlds,  whose  mode  of  generation 
will  be  easily  intelligible  to  us  after  what  has  gone 
before. 

It  is  well  known  that  even  comparatively  small 
telescopes  dissolve  the  general  sheen  of  that  im- 
mense celestial  belt  into  countless  small  stars. 
But  the  abundance  of  stars  becomes  overpower- 
ing when  but  a  small  portion  of  the  Milky  Way 
is  reproduced  on  a  photographic  plate  by  a  long 
exposure.  The  accompanying  photograph  of  a 
portion  of  the  Milky  Way  in  the  constellation  of 
Anser  (the  Goose}  was  taken  by  Wolf  of  Heidel- 
berg after  an  exposure  of  about  seven  hours.7 
This  region  contains  no  stars  visible  to  the  naked 
eye,  and  even  the  telescope  would  reveal  only  a 
few  hundred  of  them.  But  who  can  count  the 

34 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

stars  discovered  by  the  photographic  plate  in  this 
one  region  of  the  heavens? 

Even  in  this  small  portion  we  see  that  the  stars 
are  rather  unevenly  distributed,  although  they  do 
not  seem  to  be  entirely  without  arrangement.  In 
some  places  they  seem  to  be  arranged  like  pearls 
on  a  string,  in  other  places  dark  channels  with 
few  stars  are  drawn  through  the  swarming 
groups,  just  as  though  the  matter  had  been  dis- 
placed by  some  intruder.  Again,  in  other  places, 
lines  of  stars  are  drawn  out  like  rays  from  some 
larger  star,  suggesting  an  internal  connection  of 
the  entire  group.  Then  again  misty  regions  in- 
tervene which  seem  to  form  a  new  Milky  Way  in 
the  picture  of  the  Milky  Way  disclosed  by  the 
photographic  plate.  In  those  places,  the  abun- 
dance of  stars  becomes  unfathomable  even  for  the 
sensitive  plate,  although  this  plate  reveals  a  great 
deal  more  than  the  most  powerful  telescope.  The 
photography  of  the  heavens  has  discovered  a 
great  many  such  misty  regions  in  the  Milky  Way, 
among  them  the  America  nebula,  so  called  on  ac- 
count of  its  startling  likeness  to  that  continent,  as 
shown  by  another  cut.8  It  is  not  a  mere  play  of 
accident  that  this  nebula  is  surrounded  by  a  zone 
poor  in  stars,  which  renders  the  nebula  more  con- 
spicuous. We  see  plainly  that  the  matter  out  of 

35 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

which  this  swarm  of  stars  is  generated,  is  trying 
to  concentrate  itself  more  and  more.  Out  of  the 
general  uniformity,  a  world-body  is  beginning  to 
emerge,  although  it  still  consists  of  thousands  of 
individual  suns,  just  as  our  body  is  built  up  of 
cells,  each  of  which,  aside  from  their  common 
duties,  has  preserved  a  certain  individuality. 
This  America  nebula  represents  an  organism 
within  an  organism.  And  if  we  realize  that  each 
one  of  the  thousands  of  stars  in  it  is  a  sun  like 
ours,  and  may  have  planets  swinging  around  it 
like  ours,  and  if  we  furthermore  understand  that 
this  formation  is  but  a  very  small  portion  of  the 
immense  organism  of  the  Milky  Way,  we  may  be 
able  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  extent  and  sublimity 
of  the  universe,  which  everywhere  follows  the 
same  laws  of  development  and  tends  toward  the 
same  wonderful  order. 

Everywhere  we  see  the  Milky  Way  concentrat- 
ing into  such  clouds  of  starry  matter  as  in  that 
small  region,  and  the  entire  stupendous  belt  dis- 
solves on  closer  inspection  into  similar  forma- 
tions. The  general  order  of  nature  shows  itself 
everywhere  in  its  general  outlines,  but  in  per- 
sonal matters  it  leaves  room  to  stars  and  men  for 
individual  development  in  conformity  with  its 
great  aims. 

36 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

Every  one  may  notice  on  superficial  observa- 
tion that  the  Milky  Way  does  not  encircle  the 
heavens  in  a  uniform  line.  It  is  very  broad  in 
some  places,  and  then  it  shines  but  dimly,  while  it 
is  narrow  in  others,  but  filled  with  a  countless 
multitude  of  stars.  In  another  place  it  divides 
into  two  branches,  which  meet  again  later  on.  In 
the  southern  hemisphere,  there  is  a  large  dark 
hole,  called  the  Coal  Sack,  just  where  the  line  is 
brightest.  On  the  other  hand  two  large  spots  of 
light,  the  Clouds  of  Magellan,  float  far  apart 
from  the  main  line.  Evidently  they  have  sepa- 
rated from  the  great  crowd. 

Aside  from  these  irregularities,  we  find  that  a 
wonderful  arrangement  of  stars  emanates  from 
the  Milky  Way  and  spreads  over  the  entire  heav- 
ens. For  if  we  count  the  stars,  beginning  at  the 
Milky  Way  and  proceeding  at  right  angles  from 
it  toward  the  two  poles  equidistant  from  it,  we 
find  to  our  astonishment  that  the  stars  grow 
scarcer  in  a  regular  gradation.  This  is  true  of 
the  dim  stars  as  well  as  of  the  brightest.  All  of 
them  are  grouped  in  a  general  order  around  the 
Milky  Way.  It  appears  accordingly  that  the 
form  of  this  immense  mass  of  stars  is  that  of  a 
lens  filled  about  uniformly  with  stars,  although 
its  center  seems  to  be  poorer  in  stars  than  its 

37 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

periphery.  Our  sun  is  located  in  its  central  re- 
gion somewhat  away  from  its  actual  center. 
However,  later  researches  seem  to  indicate  that 
the  Milky  Way  is  not  actually  a  ring,  but  an  im- 
mense spiral  with  several  turns  which  is  torn  open 
at  some  places. 

The  greatest  of  all  world-organisms  known  to 
us,  which  includes  the  entire  visible  universe,  has 
therefore  the  same  spiral  form  which  we  saw  in 
process  of  formation  in  some  of  its  parts  after  a 
collision  with  some  other  mass.  If  it  is  permitted 
to  draw  conclusions  from  equal  causes  as  to  equal 
effects,  then  it  is  probable  that  there  is  another 
similar  universe  outside  of  the  one  known  to  our 
observation,  and  the  intruding  mass  must  have 
come  from  that  other  universe  beyond  our  range 
of  vision.  It  may  be  that  the  Clouds  of  Magellan 
represent  that  intruder.  If  we  could  throw  a 
glance  at  our  universe  from  one  of  the  poles  of 
the  Milky  Way,  then  we  should  evidently  find 
that  it  looks  similar  to  the  nebula  in  the  Canes 
Venatici,  which  has  likewise  its  Clouds  of  Magel- 
lan outside  of  its  spirals.  Thus  the  same  arrange- 
ment of  matter  is  found  again  and  again,  from 
the  greatest  to  the  smallest,  from  the  system  of 
the  Milky  Way  to  the  atoms:  Separate  masses 
of  matter,  here  suns,  there  atoms,  with  wide  inter- 

38 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

vals  of  space,  an  approximately  annular,  arrange- 
ment of  the  masses  around  a  center,  and  a  cir- 
cling motion  round  this  center.  All  the  stars  of 
our  heavens  show  such  movements.  We  have  not 
fully  grasped  their  course,  because  it  will  require 
thousands  of  years  of  observation.  But  the  spiral 
arrangement  of  the  Milky  Way  proves  that  its 
suns  must  describe  such  rotary  movements. 

We  have  now  witnessed  the  genesis  of  the 
greatest  of  all  world-organisms  and  understand 
the  peculiar  order  of  its  arrangement.  Seeing 
that  its  individual  parts,  the  nebulae,  the  star  clus- 
ters, and  the  individual  suns  themselves  are  all 
miniature  copies  of  the  great  system  to  which 
they  belong,  we  understand  why  their  arrange- 
ment is  the  same  in  all  essential  points,  and  we 
realize  the  method  of  their  generation.  But  be- 
fore we  return  to  our  sun  which  we  studied  in  its 
first  process  of  condensation,  it  will  be  well  for 
us  to  get  an  idea  of  the  way  in  which  a  solar  sys- 
tem like  ours  with  planets  circling  in  definite  or- 
bits must  develop  out  of  a  nebular  spiral 
condensing  into  balls  of  matter. 

In  order  that  such  a  solar  system  may  arise,  it 
is  necessary  that  its  largest  mass  should  have 
condensed  in  its  center  and  formed  the  nucleus  of 
a  sun  as  its  predominating  body.  Around  it  cir- 

39 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

cle,  as  yet  without  definite  order,  the  spirals 
which  have  already  contracted  into  a  large  num- 
ber of  individual  bodies  of  all  sizes.  The  entire 
region  which  has  thus  been  filled  with  matter  has 
the  form  of  a  flat  lens,  with  only  a  spiral  protrud- 
ing here  and  there.  For  we  must  take  it  for 
granted  that  the  collision  inaugurating  the  regen- 
eration of  this  new  universe  does  not  let  things 
proceed  in  very  smooth  harmony.  We  want  to 
reconstruct  the  universe  out  of  a  chaos.  But  a 
chaos  is  utter  disorder.  It  is  impracticable  to 
take  our  departure  for  the  development  of  a 
theory  of  world-formation  from  uniformly  dis- 
tributed matter,  which  is  supposed  to  fill  space 
without  any  differentiation.  For  such  an  as- 
sumption would  imply  that  all  atoms  are  uniform, 
equidistant  from  one  another,  and  move  uni- 
formly. This  would  be  a  condition  of  perfect 
order,  perfect  equilibrium,  and  there  would  be  no 
impulse  by  which  matter  could  be  stirred  out  of 
it.  An  impulse  from  the  outside  would  be  indis- 
pensable in  that  case,  in  order  to  carry  fresh 
tendencies  of  development  into  this  equipoised 
mass.  But  in  the  case  of  our  world  embryo  we 
assumed  an  unequal  distribution  of  matter  at  the 
outset.  This  accounted  for  its  primitive  motion 


40 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

and  the  future  arrangement  of  the  growing  sys- 
tem of  worlds. 

Its  lenticular  form  is  due  to  the  collision,  which 
sends  out  the  spirals  in  the  direction  of  the  im- 
pulse. After  this  impulse  all  subsequent  move- 
ments must  follow  the  general  law  of  gravitation. 
Some  of  the  particles  of  matter  will  have  re- 
ceived such  a  shock  that  they  were  hurled  far 
outside  of  the  sphere  of  gravitation  of  the  gen- 
eral mass.  These  particles  become  meteorites  and 
may  occasionally  penetrate  into  other  solar  sys- 
tems. Whenever  such  bodies  rush  through  our 
terrestrial  atmosphere,  their  velocity  indicates 
that  they  received  the  impulse  for  their  motion 
outside  of  our  solar  system.  All  other  masses 
assume  elliptic  orbits  around  the  center  of  the 
general  mass.  Most  of  these  orbits  will  be  very 
elongated,  like  the  orbits  of  the  comets  in  our  sys- 
tem. These  long-tailed  stars  circle,  or  rather  fall, 
with  increasing  velocity  in  the  direction  of  the 
sun,  rotate  sharply  around  it  in  close  proximity, 
and  then  wander  off  once  more  into  the  unknown 
regions  of  our  system  from  which  they  had  come. 
But  in  the  first  stages  of  the  world-process  there 
is  as  yet  no  sun.  The  entire  inner  region  of  the 
spiral  nebula  is  filled  by  a  conglomeration  of  vari- 
egated masses,  all  of  them  rotating  around  the 

41 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

same  common  center,  but  in  almost  circular  or- 
bits, otherwise  they  could  not  keep  this  center. 
The  bodies  with  elongated  orbits  pass  through 
this  center  and  necessarily  collide  now  and  then 
with  masses  which  deprive  them  more  and  more 
of  their  initial  velocity,  so  that  their  orbits  be- 
come less  and  less  eccentric,  approach  a  circle, 
and  decrease  in  circumference.  We  can  study 
this  course  of  things  in  the  case  of  some  comets. 
They  are  "  captured  "  by  the  large  planets,  espe- 
cially by  Jupiter,  whenever  they  come  too  close, 
are  forced  into  narrower  orbits,  and  thus  become 
periodically  returning  comets. 

Such  interference  with  the  motion  of  bodies,  in 
co-operation  with  the  general  laws  of  gravitation, 
arranges  the  orbits  of  all  bodies  or  conglomera- 
tions of  masses  in  the  primitive  nebulae  in  the 
form  of  rings  around  a  center  and  clears  the  space 
between  them  more  and  more  of  matter.  It  is 
supposed  that  planets  are  formed  out  of  such 
rings.  Since  the  days  of  Laplace  it  was  simply 
assumed  that  the  substance  of  the  rings  gradually 
contracted  around  their  densest  part  and  became 
stratified  into  an  individual  body.  Laplace  him- 
self never  subjected  his  theory  of  creation  to  a 
close  mathematical  test,  nor  did  he  ever  claim  that 
it  was  anything  more  than  a  scientific  hypothesis, 

42 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

which  might  very  well  be  modified.  In  the  mean- 
time it  has  been  found  that  a  revision  of  this  the- 
ory is  indeed  imperative.  Quite  recently  an 
analytical  thinker  has  discovered  that  bodies  ro- 
tating in  the  same  orbit  around  a  common  center 
have  not  the  tendency  to  approach  one  another, 
but  rather  to  arrange  themselves  in  such  a  way 
that  they  avoid  any  collision,  if  possible.  The 
unaltered  condition  of  the  rings  of  Saturn,  which 
are  composed  of  an  innumerable  mass  of  individ- 
ual bodies,,  proves  the  practical  correctness  of  this 
theoretical  calculation.  Of  course  conditions 
turn  out  differently  when  a  small  body  in  one  of 
these  rings  approaches  a  very  large  one  so  closely 
that  it  is  caught  by  the  gravitational  force  of  the 
greater  body  and  follows  it  rather  than  the  cen- 
tral sun.  This  is  what  happens  in  the  case  of 
meteorites  and  falling  stars,  which  are  caught  by 
the  earth.  These  small  todies  must  necessarily 
fall  upon  the  larger  one.  We  see  once  more, 
then,  that  the  predominance  of  a  large  body  in 
those  rings  is  required,  if  it  is  to  develop  into  a 
planet,  just  as  we  observed  it  in  many  spiral 
nebulae.  But  in  that  case  we  can  dispense  with 
the  theory  of  annular  formation  and  proceed  im- 
mediately from  a  spiral  nebula.  The  remaining 
mass  of  the  spiral  then  develops  into  a  ring.  It 

43 


THE- MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

seems  that  our  earth  is  still  floating  in  such  a 
ring,  which  produces  the  zodiacal  light  by  means 
of  the  reflection  of  the  sun's  light  on  the  part  of 
the  minute  particles  that  float  with  the  earth 
around  the  sun.  The  belt  of  small  planets  be- 
tween Mars  and  Jupiter  is  attributed  to  the  fact 
'that  there  was  never  any  predominant  condensa- 
tion of  matter  in  that  region. 

The  same  causes,  which  led  to  the  formation  of 
planets  around  our  sun,  are  also  active  in  group- 
ing moons  around  these  planets  by  the  arrange- 
ment of  larger  masses  which  were  available  in 
their  vicinity.  Strictly  speaking,  the  moons  are 
independent  planets,  which,  being  the  same  dis- 
tance from  the  sun  as  their  ruling  bodies,  must 
move  around  it  at  the  same  speed.  Their  orbits 
are  merely  periodically  influenced  by  the  par- 
ticular gravitation  of  their  planets.  The  orbit  of 
our  moon  around  the  sun  is  thereby  transformed 
into  a  slightly  undulating  line.  It  does  not  form 
loops,  as  might  be  inferred  from  its  twofold 
rotation. 

In  the  same  way,  we  may  conceive  of  the  rota- 
tion of  the  planets  around  their  own  axes  as  being 
due  to  the  concentration  of  the  masses  which 
moved  in  the  ring  of  each  planet,  in  its  sphere  of 
gravitation,  around  the  general  center.  The 

44 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

velocity  of  motion  must  have  increased  originally 
from  the  inside  of  the  nebula  toward  its  outside, 
inversely  to  what  takes  place  in  the  case  of  the 
present  planets,  because  the  gravitation  in  the 
interior  of  a  body  filled  with  matter  increases 
with  the  distance  from  its  center,  as  it  does  in 
the  interior  of  the  terrestrial  globe.  The  deeper 
we  descend  into  it,  the  smaller  becomes  its  gravi- 
tational force,  and  at  the  center  it  is  zero,  because 
at  that  point  the  attraction  from  the  outside  is 
the  same  on  all  sides.  The  external  portions  of 
a  certain  ring,  then,  move  faster  than  its  internal 
portions.  During  their  concentration  into  a 
planet,  the  external  portions  of  a  ring,  being 
farther  away  from  the  sun,  would  have  a  tend- 
ency to  outrun  the  internal  portions.  In  this  way 
a  rotary  motion  came  about,  so  that  the  planets 
seem  to  be  rolling  along  in  their  orbits. 

In  short,  all  movements  found  in  our  solar 
system  may  be  explained  out  of  the  conditions 
described  by  us.  And  now  we  may  return  to  the 
individual  sun  which  we  studied  in  its  first  stage 
of  development.  The  concentrating  bodies  which 
later  become  planets  also  develop  first  into  suns. 
But  being  of  smaller  volume  and  therefore  de- 
veloping and  retaining  less  heat,  they  would  cool 
faster  than  the  central  body,  provided  there  is 

45 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

one,  which  is  not  always  the  case.  The  thou- 
sands of  twin  stars  in  the  heavens  show  that  one 
system  may  simultaneously  have  more  than  one 
sun.  Some  of  these  twin  stars  are  differently 
colored.  One  of  them  may  have  a  green  light, 
the  other  a  red  one.  What  a  wonderful  play  of 
colors  there  must  be  on  the  planets  that  revolve 
around  such  twin  suns!  We  can  scarcely 
imagine  the  beauties  of  their  nature.  Our  sys- 
tem likewise  witnessed  such  days.  The  great 
planet  Jupiter  must  have  been  a  second  sun. 
Cooling  off  faster  than  the  central  body,  Jupiter 
gradually  passed  into  a  state  of  red  heat  at  a 
period  when  our  sun  probably  was  radiating  still 
more  blue  light  than  it  is  today.  For  a  careful 
examination  of  the  present  sunlight  shows  that 
it  is  assuming  a  slightly  yellow  tint.  Jupiter 
still  seems  to  radiate  a  little  of  its  own  heat,  and 
beneath  the  clouds  of  its  visible  surface  there 
seems  to  be  a  slightly  glowing  crust. 

We  had  left  our  growing  world-body,  when  it 
was  a  ball  of  gas  and  just  forming  a  red  hot  and 
liquid  surface  under  the  influence  of  the  penetrat- 
ing cold  of  space,  which  condensed  the  denser 
substances  into  clouds  and  made  them  into  rain. 
The  red  hot  rain-drops  were  soon  reconverted 
into  vapor,  because  the  inner  strata  of  the  gas  ball 

46 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

had  a  higher  temperature  than  the  exterior  ones, 
in  which  condensation  took  place.  There  was, 
then,  a  continuous  circulation  between  the  outer 
and  inner  strata,  the  same  as  in  our  atmosphere. 
In  short,  conditions  of  the  "  meteorological  "  sort 
in  the  outer  strata  must  be  much  the  same  as  on 
our  earth  even  in  solar  bodies,  in  spite  of  their 
higher  temperature,  so  far  as  general  principles 
are  concerned.  For  these  bodies  also  revolve 
around  their  axis.  For  this  reason,  the  upper 
strata  of  their  atmosphere  on.  the  equator  must 
fall  behind  those  at  the  poles.  This  must  pro- 
duce regular  trade  winds  and  a  general  classifica- 
tion of  meteorological  zones.  There  must  be  an 
equilibration  of  the  general  currents  of  the  air 
between  the  poles  and  the  equator,  and  these  cur- 
rents must  meet  somewhere  in  an  intermediate 
zone  and  form  vortices,  or  cyclones,  in  which  the 
condensations  increase  just  as  they  do  on  earth, 
and  by  the  same  physical  laws.  For  this  reason 
we  observe  on  the  sun,  in  a  certain  intermediate 
zone,  not  on  the  equator  or  the  poles,  the  genera- 
tion of  sunspots.  They  appear  as  whirling 
motions  at  the  first  glance,  and  when  they  are 
carried  toward  the  outer  margin  by  the  rotation 
of  the  sun,  we  may  clearly  perceive  that  they  are 
indentures  in  the  atmosphere.9  It  has  also  been 

47 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

discovered  by  direct  observation  that  the  sun- 
spots  radiate  only  about  half  as  much  heat  as  the 
remainder  of  the  sun's  surface.  This  similarity 
of  conditions  with  terrestrial  ones  goes  so  far 
that  these  solar  cyclones  are  doubtlessly  accom- 
panied by  electrical  phenomena  of  a  violence 
which  surpasses  our  imagination.  These  elec- 
trical discharges  are  even  communicated  in  a 
very  perceptible  manner  to  the  earth  across  the 
150  million  kilometers  that  separate  us  from  the 
sun,  and  effect  tremendous  fluctuations  in  our 
electro-magnetic  conditions.  When  the  solar 
cyclones  increase  in  number,  all  magnetic  needles 
in  all  parts  of  the  earth  become  very  restless. 
Magnetic  currents  run  along  under  the  surface 
of  the  earth  and  penetrate  into  the  telegraph  lines 
connected  with  the  earth.  The  sun  thus  reaches 
across  space  into  our  apparatus  and  informs  us 
by  means  of  this  wireless  telegraphy  on  a  gigantic 
scale  of  the  titanic  struggle  of  the  elements  in 
his  youthful  body.  At  the  same  time  the  highest 
strata  of  our  atmosphere  are  illumined  by  the 
mysterious  aurora  borealis,  which  sends  its  rays 
from  pole  to  pole  in  order  to  compensate  the  elec- 
tric disturbances.  These  rays  of  the  aurora 
borealis  are  very  like  the  glowing  discharges  in 
the  so-called  Geisler,  or  cathode,  tubes.  Such  dis- 

48 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

charges  take  place  only  in  very  rarified  gases,  in 
which  lightning-like  phenomena  are  no  longer 
possible.  In  the  extraordinary  rarified  air  of  the 
sun,  in  which  those  revolutions  take  place,  only 
such  glowing  discharges  can  occur  as  cannot  be 
easily  observed  on  account  of  the  intense  radia- 
tion in  their  environment.  But  frequently  we 
see  mighty  and  flaming  tongues  of  red  shooting 
forth  over  the  rim  of  the  sun,  the  so-called  pro- 
tuberances, which  expand  with  such  extraordi- 
nary rapidity  that  of  late  the  question  has  been 
raised  whether  it  is  really  matter  which  is  ex- 
pelled at  such  moments,  and  whether  these  for- 
mations have  not  really  existed  all  the  time  and 
have  only  become  visible  through  electric  dis- 
charges which  spread  with  great  rapidity  in  those 
clouds  of  hydrogen  and  helium.10  Quite  recently 
it  has  been  suggested  that  the  sun  may  be  dart- 
ing forth  from  its  spots  those  electrons  which 
continuously  emanate  from  Radium  with  the 
velocity  of  light.  These  electrons  are  supposed 
to  cause  abnormal  electric  conditions  on  the  sun 
as  well  as  on  the  earth. 

After  the  gigantic  struggle  of  the  elements  a 
temporary  calm  follows,  for  this  struggle  seeks 
to  restore  the  equilibrium.  The  incessant  work 
of  condensation  then  proceeds  more  quietly.  The 

49 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

products  of  condensation  begin  to  form  a  red  hot 
liquid  shell  at  a  somewhat  lower  level  around  the 
gas  ball.  This  shell  is  constantly  made  and  un- 
made, but  after  a  certain  time  it  is  but  rarely  shat- 
tered from  the  inside,  because  the  process  then 
goes  on  more  uniformly.  However,  the  further 
condensation  of  the  solar  body  increases  its  aggre- 
gate temperature,  especially  in  its  interior.  At  a 
certain  moment  it  will  have  increased  to  such  a 
degree  that  it  cannot  let  the  liquid  shell  remain 
intact.  The  liquid  is  pushed  aside  at  its  weakest 
places,  where  the  general  circulation  of  the  solar 
mass  offers  the  best  opportunities  for  counter- 
action. Then  a  new  period  of  sunspots  begins. 
It  is  known  that  our  sun  has  such  periods  of  a 
greater  disturbance  of  his  atmosphere  about  once 
in  eleven  years,  and  in  the  interim  his  surface  is 
unusually  clear.  We  have  now  demonstrated  the 
physical  necessity  of  such  pulsations.  This  phe- 
nomenon greatly  resembles,  in  a  physical  way, 
those  of  geysers,  which  likewise  have  periods  of 
sudden  eruption  in  definite  intervals,  during 
which  heat  is  gradually  accumulated  in  them  by 
way  of  the  interior  of  the  earth.  We  shall  revert 
to  this  later. 

To  the  extent  that  the  cooling  process  con- 
tinues, the  sunspots  will  grow  in  number  and 

50 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

will  periodically  darken  our  developing  sun  more 
and  more.  This  stage  of  evolution  is  also  repre- 
sented by  certain  stars,  the  so-called  variable 
stars,  which  have  a  long  and  somewhat  irregular 
period.  The  sunspot  period  is  likewise  subject 
to  fluctuations  around  a  certain  average.  The 
most  characteristic  star  of  this  class  is  Mira  in 
the  constellation  of  the  Whale.  This  star  is 
periodically  one  of  the  brightest,  its  light  is  mid- 
way between  the  first  and  second  magnitude. 
Then  it  becomes  gradually  dimmer,  until  it  dis- 
appears for  the  naked  eye  about  seventy  days 
after  its  maximum.  It  may  be  further  observed 
through  a  telescope  for  three  or  four  months 
more,  during  which  its  light  varies  between  that 
of  a  star  of  the  ninth  or  tenth  magnitude,  always 
growing  dimmer,  until  it  grows  once  more 
brighter,  at  a  faster  rate  than  it  decreased.  It 
reaches  its  next  maximum  about  333  days  after 
the  preceding  one.  It  requires  about  40  days, 
from  the  time  it  is  seen  by  the  naked  eye,  to 
reach  its  maximum,  while  it  took  70  for  its  dis- 
appearance. It  is  this  peculiarity  of  a  faster  in- 
crease than  decrease  which  the  wonderful  little 
star  shares  with  the  sunspot  period.  However, 
these  periods  are  observed  only  approximately, 
not  strictly,  and  may  vary  as  much  as  one  month. 

51 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

Sometimes  this  star  does  not  reach  more  than  a 
light  of  the  fifth  magnitude  at  its  maximum,  so 
that  it  does  not  become  visible  to  the  naked  eye, 
except  under  favorable  conditions.  The  spectro- 
scope reveals  the  fact  that  at  the  time  of  the 
maximum  of  this  star,  and  of  others  like  it,  a 
resplendent  hydrogen  rises  out  of  the  interior. 
This  betrays  the  eruptive  character  of  the  phe- 
nomenon. 

Little  by  little  the  liquid  shell  of  our  solar  body 
becomes  stronger  and  more  resistant,  so  that  it 
endures  and  is  but  rarely  disrupted  in  isolated 
places,  where  gases  escape  from  the  interior.  It 
might  appear  impossible  at  first  sight  that  a 
liquid  stratum  should  be  able  to  rest  permanently 
upon  a  gaseous  one,  as  we  assume.  But  it  must 
be  noted  that  entirely  different  conditions  obtain 
in  the  dimensions  of  a  world-body  than  in  our 
laboratories.  The  pressure  of  the  masses  of  such 
a  body  compresses  the  gases  very  strongly  and 
yet  keeps  them  in  a  gaseous  state  by  means 
of  high  temperatures,  so  that  they  are  heavier 
than  the  liquids  which  are  condensed  over  them. 
And  if  there  are  really  heavier  products  of  con- 
densation, they  sink  into  the  depth  and  are  re- 
dissolved  by  the  heat  of  the  gaseous  center.  In 
this  way  a  process  of 'selection  among  the  various 

52 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD       . 

substances  gives  stability  to  the  liquid  stratum. 
Our  solar-body,  then,  has  acquired  permanently 
a  red  hot  liquid  surface.  We  know  that  our  earth 
was  once  in  this  stage,  for  wherever  we  penetrate 
far  enough  into  its  crust,  we  find  primitive  crys- 
talline minerals,  such  as  granite  and  gneiss,  which 
form  the  backbone  of  most  of  the  great  mountain 
systems.  These  primitive  rocks  have  in  all  es- 
sentials the  same  composition  as  the  lava  which 
the  volcanoes  vomit  forth  from  the  depths  of  the 
earth.  Therefore  the  entire  surface  of  the  earth 
must  have  consisted  of  lava  once  upon  a  time. 
The  interior  of  the  earth,  now  as  then,  must  still 
consist  of  gases,  for  the  process  of  further  con- 
densation could  not  alter  those  internal  conditions 
in  any  way.  We  also  know  that  the  interior  of 
the  earth  is  considerably  heavier  than  its  aver- 
age surface.  The  specific  weight  of  the  entire 
mass  of  the  earth  is  about  equal  to  that  of  iron. 
But  the  rocks  of  the  earth's  crust  are  lighter  than 
iron.  We  observe  furthermore,  that  the  temper- 
ature of  the  strata  of  the  earth  increases  one 
degree  with  every  30  meters  of  depth.  In  this 
way  we  arrive  at  a  relatively  slight  depth  at  tem- 
peratures, in  which  no  substance  known  to  us  can 
exist  in  any  other  but  a  gaseous  state.  These 
experimental  facts,  then  lead  us  by  another  way 

53 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

to  the  same  conclusion  as  our  theory  of  the  mak- 
ing of  the  world,  namely  that  the  interiors  of 
world-bodies  must  be  in  a  gaseous  condition. 

By  continued  cooling,  solid  slag  is  formed  on 
the  liquid  surface  of  our  ball  of  gas,  the  same  as 
in  streams  of  lava.  This  slag",  being  a  crystalline 
product,  is  generally  lighter  than  the  liquids  in 
which  it  forms.  It  floats  on  them  like  ice  on 
water.  True,  there  are  many  substances,  which 
are  heavier,  in  the  solid  than  in  the  liquid  state. 
In  that  case  they  will  sink  and  dissolve  once  more, 
just"  as  we  saw  it  in  the  case  of  the  play  of 
forces  between  the  liquid  shell  and  the  gaseous 
interior.  Under  these  conditions,  the  liquid 
stratum  must  remain  heavier  than  the  solid  crust 
forming  upon  it.  The  floating  flakes  augment 
and  are  driven  together  by  currents.  They  rub 
off  their  sharp  edges  against  one  another,  cling 
together,  and  consolidate,  forming  in  course  of 
time  large  continents  of  slag.  A  world-body  in 
this  stage  shows  dark  and  light  places,  and  since 
it  revolves  around  itself  it  will  alternately  turn 
these  places  toward  different  directions  of  the 
universe.  When  seen  at  a  great  distance,  in 
which  it  appears  as  a  star  without  a  diameter,  it 
will  change  its  light  in  periodical  intervals,  which 
will  remain  generally  equal,  or  which  will  be  sub- 

54 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

ject  to  slow  alterations  only  to  the  extent  that  the 
dark  regions  of  slag  have  not  yet  acquired  a 
permanent  position  on  the  liquid  surface,  but  are 
drifting  about  on  slow  currents.  This  leads  us 
to  a  special  class  of  variable  stars,  which  cor- 
respond on  the  whole  to  the  Mira  type,  but  whose 
light  varies  more  regularly  and  in  shorter  inter- 
vals. Some  of  these  stars  have  also  secondary 
minima  of  light,  which  seem  to  indicate  that  slag 
islands  of  different  dimensions  are  distributed 
over  the  surface  of  the  revolving  star.  Another 
phenomenon  now  visible  in  the  heavens  has  thus 
been  recognized  by  us  as  a  link  in  the  great  chain 
of  evidences  in  the  development  of  the  universe. 

While  the  surface  of  the  world-body  is  more 
and  more  incrusted,  its  original  white  heat  is 
gradually  tempered  to  red  heat.  The  color  of  a 
liquid  or  solid  body  in  a  glowing  state  expresses 
immediately  its  temperature.  Red  heat  begins  at 
525  degrees  centigrade,  a  body  glowing  with  a 
light  cherry  red,  no  matter  what  may  be  its  sub-' 
stance,  has  a  temperature  between  800  and  1,000 
degrees.  A  body  glowing  with  a  yellow  light  has 
about  1,200  degrees  of  heat,  and  white  heat  begins 
at  1,500  degrees.  Now,  we  see  in  the  heavens 
stars  of  all  gradations  of  colors,  from  deep. .ruby 
red  to  bluish  tints  which  indicate  the  highest 

55 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

degree  of  heat.  The  universe,  then,  contains 
world-bodies  of  all  degrees  of  temperature.  And 
it  is  very  significant  for  our  theories  that  there 
are  more  red  stars  among  the  variable  ones  than 
among  the  others.  For  those  causes  of  variabil- 
ity, of  which  we  spoke  a  while  ago,  can  be  gen- 
erated only  in  the  last  stages  of  the  cooling 
process  of  the  glowing  surface. 

The  body  slowly  acquires  a  solid  crust  which 
radiates  but  little  light  of  its  own.  Above  it 
hovers  a  dense  atmosphere  of  smoke  and  gases, 
which  are  expelled  by  the  slag  surface,  or  which 
may  break  through  it  from  the  interior.  Fre- 
quently a  large  region  of  slag  will  be  burst  open 
and  flooded  with  glowing  lava.  A  lake  of  liquid 
glowing  minerals  is  formed,  which  becomes  but 
gradually  encrusted  in  the  course  of  a  long 
time.  A  world-body  of  this  kind,  seen  at  the 
proper  distance,  will  impress  us  much  in  the  same 
way  as  the  planet  Jupiter.  We  see  only  the  outer 
strata  of  its  atmosphere,  the  same  as  of  the  sun. 
Since  Jupiter  revolves  around  its  axis  very  rapid- 
ly, the  clouds  separate  very  plainly  into  zones. 
In  the  seventies  of  the  i6th  century,  a  large  red 
spot  appeared  in  one  of  these  zones.  At  first  it 
betrayed  its  presence  only  by  a  faint  glow,  but 
soon  it  assumed  a  more  intensive  color,  which 

56 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

faded  very  slowly.  It  has  not  quite  disappeared 
yet.  During  the  time  of  its  existence  it  showed 
a  motion  of  its  own,  of  a  varying  velocity,  on  the 
surface  of  Jupiter.  It  fell  very  slowly  behind 
the  normal  revolution  of  the  planet.  This  phe- 
nomenon can  be  explained  only  by  assuming  that 
Jupiter  is  in  the  cooling  stage  previously  de- 
scribed, and  that  the  red  spot  was  the  visible 
reflection  in  the  clouds  of  a  lava  lake  of  con- 
tinental dimensions,  which  had  burst  through  the 
surface  in  some  way.  (See  also  "  The  End  of 
the  World,"  pages  96  and  97).  Owing  to  the 
rapid  rotation  of  the  planet,  the  lava  lagged  be- 
hind and  flooded  the  shore  opposite  the  direction 
of  the  rotation,  while  the  incrustation  could  pro- 
ceed more  easily  on  the  other  shore.  This  ex- 
plains the  receding  movement  of  the  spot  over 
the  surface. 

We  still  have  one  or  two  such  lava  lakes  on 
our  earth.  One  of  them  is  in  Hawaii,  in  the 
crater  of  Kilauea,  and  a  smaller  one  is  in  my 
opinion  in  the  Stromboli  volcano,  on  one  of  the 
Liparian  Islands  north  of  Sicily.  The  lava  lake 
of  Kilauea  is  continually  covering  its  surface 
with  slags  that  cling  close  to  one  another,  so  that 
we  see  at  night  a  brightly  shining  network  of  fine 
lines  incessantly  moving  across  its  red  glpwjng 

57 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

surface.  However,  these  cakes  of  slag  can  never 
become  consolidated,  because  every  now  and  then 
a  jet  of  liquid  minerals,  several  meters  high, 
spouts  up  through  the  slag  and  floods  and  dis- 
solves everything.  Many  indications  make  it 
very  probable  that  this  lake  represents  one  of  the 
last  remnants  of  the  primitive  liquid  surface  of 
our  planet. 

Just  as  we  have  seen  it  in  the  case  of  the  gases 
and  vapors  of  the  atmosphere,  so  the  fiery  liquid 
surface  of  world-bodies  must  have  its  currents, 
which  are  due  partly  to  the  rotation  of  the  body, 
partly  to  the  circulation  of  matter  caused  by  the 
equilibration  of  temperatures  between  the  inner 
and  outer  strata.  Here,  as  in  other  similar  con- 
ditions, currents  will  be  struggling  with  counter- 
currents,  and  in  such  regions  the  cakes  of  slag 
will  be  shoved  against  one  another  so  violently 
that  they  will  pile  up  to  great  heights.  If  the 
slag  has  assumed  continental  dimensions,  gigantic 
ridges  will  be  formed  on  its  surface,  mountain 
chains,  which  extend  over  a  large  part  of  the 
planet,  as  do,  for  instance,  the  Andes,  which 
extend  almost  from  the  North-Pole  to  the  South- 
Pole,  and  which  consist,  so  far  as  their  back- 
bone is  concerned,  actually  of  that  primitive 
mineral  mass  which  built  up  the  first  solid  shell 

58 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  our  earth.  But  if  the  Andes  owe  their  origin 
to  the  piling  up  of  cakes  of  slag  through  the 
interaction  of  great  currents,  then  the  position  of 
the  equator  at  the  time  of  their  formation  must 
have  been  diametrically  opposite  to  that  of  today. 
For  such  currents  and  counter-currents  as  we 
assumed  here  will  only  be  found  running  parallel 
to  the  equator.  We  note  this  by  the  way,  be- 
cause we  shall  have  to  discuss  later  a  number  of 
facts,  which  can  be  explained  only  by  a  slow  dis- 
placement of  the  terrestrial  axis  out  of  its  original 
position. 

If  the  mountains  have  really  been  formed  by 
such  piling  up  of  cakes  of  slag,  then  the  shell  of 
our  earth  is  by  no  means  stronger,  but  rather 
weaker  at  such  places  than  in  the  plains,  for  then 
the  mountains  do  not  signify  an  increase  in  solid 
matter.  This  has  been  corroborated  by  many  ob- 
servations. There  must  have  been  a  time,  when 
our  planet  drew  over  its  surface  just  such  a  net- 
work of  cakes,  as  we  see  in  Lake  Kilauea.  This 
network  became  more  and  more  solid,  but  it  rep- 
resented nevertheless  lines  of  least  endurance  in 
the  shell,  through  which  the  fiery  liquid,  the 
magma,  could  easily  break.  Then,  too,  at  such 
places  the  cakes,  although  solidified,  could  still 
be  slightly  moved  against  one  another,  whenever 

59 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  further  upbuilding  of  the  world-body,  which 
we  may  now  call  the  earth,  made  extensive  dislo- 
cations on  its  surface  necessary.  We  may  still 
recognize  such  long  lines  of  rupture  in  the  sur- 
face of  our  earth,  wherever  "  tectonic  earth- 
quakes "  are  most  frequent  and  shake  large  tracts 
of  land  simultaneously  by  convulsive  motions. 
One  of  these  lines  of  rupture,  for  instance,  runs 
nearly  at  right  angles  from  the  Andes  past  the 
Antilles,  across  the  Atlantic  ocean,  and  on  beyond 
the  Caucasus.  The  crust  of  the  earth  has  been 
especially  restless  along  this  line  of  rupture  since 
the  recent  catastrophe  in  Martinique.  Our  planet 
wants  to  take  another  step  forward  in  its  de- 
velopment along  this  line. 

With  the  formation  of  a  solid  crust  our  planet 
enters  into  its  volcanic  age,  in  which  it  is  to  this 
day.  Volcanic  eruptions  at  first  dominated  the 
whole  earth.  Their  effects  were  felt  everywhere, 
but  for  this  reason  they  were,  perhaps,  less  vio- 
lent, because  the  pressure  could  easily  escape  at 
any  point.  We  shall  trace  the  development  of 
volcanic  phenomena  through  the  ages,  before  we 
consider. any  of  the  other  influences  which  have 
given  such  varied  expressions  to  the  face  of  the 
earth. 

We  understand,  after  what  has  gone  before, 

60 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

that  the  interior  of  the  earth  must  continually 
exert  its  influence  against  the  outer  shell.  The 
play  of  natural  forces,  which  causes  the  sunspots 
to  break  out  occasionally,  goes  on  without  inter- 
ruption. The  struggle  between  the  heat,  gen- 
erated by  the  pressure  of  the  masses,  and  the  in- 
vading cold  of  space  always  continues.  This 
cold  grips  the  solid  shell  much  more  strongly 
than  the  fiery  liquids  and  seeks  to  press  it  tighter. 
The  shell  of  the  earth  then  feels  too  tight.  It 
bursts  open  and  lets  out  the  fiery  magma.  The 
cakes  of  solid  matter  sink  deeper,  for  they  are 
mainly  held  up  by  the  resistance  of  the  mountains. 
Thus  cavities  are  formed  between  the  mountains, 
the  future  beds  of  the  oceans.  On  account  of 
this  sinking  process,  the  cakes  along  the  piled  up 
chains  of  mountains  become  unsettled,  and  finally 
they  slide  off  along  the  whole  line.  The  other 
cakes  are  left  standing  and  form  a  wall  of  moun- 
tains slanting  steeply  toward  the  cavity.  Such  a 
landslide  took  place,  once  upon  a  time,  along  the 
whole  chain  of  Andes.  But  at  that  period  the 
oceans  had  long  filled  their  beds. 

During  the  first  period  of  the  formation  of  this 
crust,  when  such  breaks  took  place  on  a  large 
scale,  whole  oceans  of  magma  may  have  flooded 
the  surrounding  country,  and  if  the  ground  under 

61 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

them  consisted  of  more  fire-proof  material,  the 
magma  may  have  stood  for  a  long  time  in  such  a 
bed.  In  this  way  large  lakes  of  fiery  liquid  were 
formed  and  separated  from  the  magma  in  the  in- 
terior of  the  earth  by  solid  rocks.  After  a  while, 
the  fiery  lakes  also  became  encrusted,  as  water 
lakes  do  with  ice.  By  this  process  crystalline 
strata  of  a  horizontal  stratification  and  structure 
were  formed.  The  primitive  rocks  reveal  often 
in  a  startlingly  marked  degree  the  fact  that  they 
have  been  formed,  like  the  "  sediment  strata  " 
above  them,  by  the  deposition  of  material  in 
oceans.  According  to  the  opinion  of  the  Paris 
lunar  scientists  Loevy  and  Puiseux,  the  wide 
ocean  plains  of  the  moon  have  been  formed  in 
this  way.  For  this  satellite  of  the  earth  must 
have  gone  through  a  corresponding  stage  of  evo- 
lution, and  since  the  water  and  the  work  of  dis- 
integration never  played  a  very  marked  role  in 
the  upbuilding  of  its  surface,  it  has  preserved  the 
general  characteristics  peculiar  to  the  process  of 
incrustation  and  cooling,  while  the  surface  of  the 
earth  naturally  altered  its  aspect  considerably 
through  subsequent  influences,  which  we  shall 
discuss  later. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  surface  of  the  moon 
is    completely    covered    with    "  craters."     Their 

62 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

number  is  estimated  at  100,000.  It  would  seem 
then,  that  volcanic  agencies  played  a  far  more 
powerful  role  on  our  satellite  than  any  known 
to  us  on  earth  at  present.  For  the  extension  of 
the  individual  lunar  craters  is  considerably 
greater  than  that  of  our  largest  volcanoes.  The 
lunar  volcanoes  generally  have  still  other,  special, 
peculiarities,  which  make  it  at  least  doubtful 
whether  they  are  genuine  volcanoes.  If  we  recall 
for  a  moment  our  conception  of  the  genesis  of 
world-bodies  out  of  colliding  masses,  which  were 
arranged  along  a  circle,  we  might  imagine  that 
the  circular  mountains  of  the  -  moon  were  pro- 
duced by  the  fall  of  smaller  moons  of  the  primi- 
tive circle.  These  moonlets  broke  through  the 
solid  shell  of  the  moon  and  disappeared  in  the 
fiery  liquid  of  its  interior,  which  rendered  them 
into  a  fiery  liquid.  The  opening  made  in  this 
way  became  naturally  a  sort  of  volcano  and  pro- 
duced further  volcanic  phenomena  in  its  vicinity, 
which  may  not  be  entirely  extinct  on  our  satellite 
to  this  day. 

The  fact  that  the  earth  has  not  preserved  any 
such  traces  of  ancient  collisions  with  the  indi- 
vidual masses  of  the  ring  of  world-bodies,  so  far 
as  its  surface  shows,  is  due  to  the  very  long  time 
which  this  planet  required  for  the  formation  of 

63 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

its  solid  shell.  Meanwhile  all  great  masses  of  the 
primitive  ring  were  united  with  it,  while  many  a 
meteorite,  which  still  strikes  our  atmosphere  and 
is  exploded  by  it,  belongs  to  the  remainders  of 
this  primordial  ring.  The  atmosphere  of  the 
earth  in  pristine  ages  was  doubtless  still  denser 
than  it  is  today,  and  consequently  it  protected  the 
surface  of  this  globe  against  the  direct  contact 
fwith  cosmic  masses,  a  thing  which  can  never  have 
been  a  fact  to  the  same  extent  on  the  moon,  be- 
cause a  smaller  body  always  surrounds  itself  with 
a  smaller  atmosphere. 

Now,  the  volcanic  activity  of  the  earth  and 
kindred  bodies  had  to  undergo  some  changes  with 
increasing  age.  The  thickness  of  the  solid  crust 
was  continually  increasing.  It  offered  an  ever 
greater  resistance.  The  volcanic  eruptions  be- 
came rarer,  but  more  catastrophic.  We  can 
verify  this  statement  by  observing  our  present- 
day  volcanoes,  which  have  so  much  more  violent 
eruptions  the  longer  they  have  rested.  The  ex- 
ample of  Mount  Pelee  on  Martinique  is  still  fresh 
in  our  memory.  The  catastrophe  of  Pompeii  oc- 
curred when  Mount  Vesuvius  was  no  longer 
known  as  an  active  volcano.  For  the  present, 
however,  no  destructive  eruption  is  expected  from 


64 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

it,   because   it  is   having  a   succession   of  small 
eruptions. 

We  recognize  from  what  has  gone  before  that 
separate  craters  of  volcanic  action  would  be 
formed,  corresponding  to  the  separate  lakes  and 
seas  of  liquid  fire.  Nowadays  there  is  probably 
not  a  single  volcano  of  this  globe  connected  with 
the  fiery  interior,  or  if  there  are  any,  they  are 
very  few.  In  this  respect  the  example  of  the 
two  volcanoes,  Mauna  Loa  and  Kilauea  on 
Hawaii,  is  significant.  The  first  has  a  height  of 
4,170  meters  and  is  the  largest  active  volcano  of 
the  earth.  The  lava  is  continually  in  a  state  of 
liquid  fire  in  its  mighty  crater,  and  it  is  thrown 
up  in  mighty  jets.  The  same  takes  place  in  the 
crater  of  Kilauea,  3,000  meters  below  that  of 
Mauna  Loa  whose  parasitic  neighbor  it  might  be 
considered.  But  there  is  nothing  which  the 
eruptions  of  these  two  volcanoes  have  in  common. 
These  two  lava  lakes  cannot  have  the  same  reser- 
voir in  common,  for  instance,  they  cannot  both 
lead  into  the  fiery  interior  of  the  globe,  because 
the  difference  of  their  levels  cannot  be  explained 
on  this  assumption  by  the  laws  of  hydraulics.  It 
is  not  possible  for  any  liquid  to  maintain  itself  at 
different  levels  in  communicating  tubes,  such  as 
these  two  craters  would  have  to  be.  But  perhaps 

65 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

one  of  them  is  still  in  communication  with  the 
magma,  while  the  other  may  be  connected  with  a 
separate  reservoir  of  lava. 

Geological  investigations  have  revealed  the  fact 
that  the  volcanic  activity  of  the  earth  suddenly 
increased  appallingly  after  a  period  of  relative  rest 
about  the  middle  of  the  Tertiary  period.  This  is 
the  period  in  which  the  Pacific  clod  was  torn 
loose  and  the  volcanoes  of  the  Andes  became 
active,  which  were  then  far  more  numerous  and 
larger  than  now.  But  their  present  activity  still 
betrays  the  after  effects  of  that  wild  epoch  of 
terrestrial  evolution,  which  also  gave  rise  to  the 
Alps  and  molded  the  features  of  the  earth  into 
their  present  form. 

The  cause  of  this  stupendous  change  of  the 
entire  surface  of  this  globe  can  be  found  only  in 
a  mighty  disturbance  of  its  equilibrium.  By  this 
means  the  old  and  more  or  less  conglomerated 
clods  were  partly  rent  asunder  and  piled  one  over 
another.  Such  a  disturbance  of  the  equilibrium 
could  come  only  from  the  outside,  through  cosmic 
forces.  Perhaps  it  was  a  smaller  moon,  one  of 
the  last  greater  masses  of  the  cosmic  ring,  which 
fell  upon  the  earth  and  changed  the  position  of 
the  'equator. 

It  is  universally  known  that  the  rotation  of  the 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

earth  around  its  axis  has  accumulated  more 
matter  at  the  equator  than  at  the  poles,  so  that 
this  globe  has  the  form  of  an  ellipsoid.  If  the 
earth  were  an  absolutely  rigid  body,  which  could 
no  longer  be  molded  in  any  way  by  the  work  of 
natural  forces,  then  the  present  coincidence  of  the 
swelling  around  the  geographical  equator  with 
the  actual  equator  of  the  rotation  would  prove 
that  the  earth's  axis  did  not  alter  its  position  since 
that  primitive  period  in  which  the  solid  crust  was 
formed.  For  this  reason  this  ellipsoid  form  was 
for  a  long  time  regarded  as  the  surest  proof  that 
the  earth  was  once  in  a  state  of  liquid  fire.  But 
nowadays  it  has  been  proved  theoretically  and 
practically  that  there  is  nothing  absolutely  rigid, 
that  even  the  hardest  rocks  are  amenable  to  plas- 
tic alterations  under  strong  and  continued  pres- 
sure, so  that  barring  a  certain  lapse  of  time  be- 
tween cause  and  effect  the  earth  musjl  always 
have  that  form  which  it  would  have,  if  it  were  a 
red  hot  liquid.  Consequently,  if  the  poles  have 
wandered  over  the  surface  of  the  earth,  the 
swelling  at  the  equator  must  have  changed  its 
position  accordingly.  In  other  words,  a  moun- 
tain chain  20  kilometers  in  height  and  reaching 
all  around  the  globe  must  be  wandering  over  its 
surface.  Of  course,  this  is  taking  place  very 

67 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

slowly,  but  we  can  well  understand  that  this 
process  must  continue  to  shake  the  ancient  clods 
and  keep  them  in  a  condition  of  imperfect  con- 
solidation. 

A  very  considerable  dislocation  of  the  earth's 
axis  would  naturally  have  been  produced  by  the 
downfall  of  a  moon  upon  our  planet,  even  if  the 
mass  of  the  falling  satellite  was  but  small.  We 
may  get  an  idea  of  this  occurrence  by  pushing  a 
spinning  top,  which  will  strongly  vacillate  even 
after  a  slight  push.  Now,  the  peculiar  con- 
ditions of  the  glacial  age  indicate  strongly  that 
the  poles  were  displaced  in  that  period  by  about 
20  degrees.  And  this  can  be  due  only  to  cosmic 
influences.  In  short,  there  is  much  evidence  for 
the  belief  that  the  earth  experienced  in  the  Ter- 
tiary period  a  catastrophe  which  almost  amounted 
to  the  destruction  by  a  collision.  I  have  spoken 
it  length  of  this  event  in  another  volume  of  this 
library.  However,  this  catastrophe  implied  an 
essential  advance  in  the  development  of  our 
planet.  It  was  especially  the  volcanic  agencies 
which  entered  a  new  phase.  We  are  still  living 
in  it,  and  we  may  still  observe  one  of  the  after- 
effects of  that  catastrophe  in  a  slight  vacillation 
of  the  terrestrial  axis. 

Millions  of  years  passed  before  the  deeply  agi- 

68 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

tated  earth  was  somewhat  pacified.  Most  of  the 
volcanic  openings  created  at  that  period  have 
closed  in  the  meantime.  The  present  volcanic 
activity  is  but  a  weak  survival  of  the  original 
one.  In  many  cases,  the  ancient  fury  of  the  fiery 
eruptions  has  dwindled  down  to  hot  springs  and 
other  beneficent  phenomena.  The  thermal  spring 
at  Karlsbad,  Bohemia,  is  the  foremost  of  these 
springs.  It  may  be  regarded  as  a  volcano  of  hot 
water  in  continual  eruption.  Formerly  the  Iron 
Mountains  of  Bohemia  contained  many  active 
volcanoes. 

Another  one  of  the  after-effects  of  the  ancient 
catastrophe  is  the  charming  play  of  geysers, 
which  illustrate  a  certain  stage  of  volcanic  de- 
velopment still  better  than  the  Karlsbad  spring. 
It  shows  a  stage  of  terrestrial  development  in 
which  the  fiery  shell  has  become  rigid,  while 
water  has  assumed  the  role  of  the  magma.  The 
geysers  arise  on  hot  volcanic  ground,  sometimes 
in  extinct  craters.11  The  water  of  atmospheric 
precipitations  penetrates  into  the  hot  interior  of 
the  earth  and  fills  the  craters.  In  those  depths, 
the  water  can  assume  much  higher  temperatures 
than  100  degrees  without  boiling,  on  account  of 
the  pressure  of  the  column  of  water  above  it. 
And  at  a  higher  level  the  cooling  process  keeps 

69 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  temperature  below  the  boiling  point.  For 
this  reason  the  water  begins  to  boil  at  a  definite 
depth  of  the  crater,  overheated  water  being  car- 
ried up  to  it  continually  from  the  interior.  The 
water  above  the  boiling  level  is  then  ejected. 
This  makes  room  for  the  water  below  it,  and 
permits  it  to  boil  in  its  turn.  The  play  of  boiling 
waters  is  thus  continued  until  all  the  water  has 
been  ejected.  Then  it  ceases  suddenly  and  be- 
gins just  as  suddenly  later,  after  the  temperature 
has  risen  sufficiently  at  that  definite  level.  This 
activity  of  the  geysers  has  a  certain  physical 
similarity  with  the  eruptions  of  the  protuberances 
and  spots  from  the  interior  of  the  sun,  and  also 
with  genuine  volcanic  phenomena.  Let  us  im- 
agine for  a  moment  that  there  will  be  a  time  when 
all  oceans  will  be  covered  by  a  crust  of  ice  several 
kilometers  in  thickness,  in  which  there  will  be 
just  such  deep  fissures  and  breaks  as  we  now  find 
in  the  solid  crust  of  the  earth.  Then  the  water 
will  be  ejected  from  the  interior  of  the  earth  by 
eruptions  in  certain  places  in  the  same  way  that 
the  magma  is  now. 

We  have  seen  many  details  of  the  development 
of  our  world-picture  in  the  course  of  this  presen- 
tation. But  still  it  seems  void  and  dreary  when 
compared  with  the  wonderful  variety  of  natural 

70 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

beauties  which  surround  us  today.  Today  the 
volcanic  eruptions  play  but  an  insignificant  role 
in  the  configuration  of  the  surface  of  our  planet. 
Most  of  the  mountain  chains  have  no  longer  any 
volcanoes,  whether  they  be  active  or  extinct. 

We  have  already  noted  the  manner  in  which 
the  mountain  ridges  were  formed  by  the  piling 
up  of  terrestrial  clods,  at  least  so  far  as  their 
backbone  is  concerned.  It  is  only  this  backbone 
which  consists  nowadays  of  pristine  rocks  that 
were  once  upon  a  time  deposited  on  the  red  hot 
surface.  The  massive  granite,  however,  is  cov- 
ered by  strata  which  can  have  been  deposited  only 
by  water.  For  the  water  is  playing  a  very  essen- 
tial role  in  building  up  the  present  aspect  of 
mountains.  The  forces  of  fire,  which  we  have 
studied  so  far,  are  now  relieved  by  the  circulation 
of  water.  We  observe  its  many  effects  all 
around  us. 

We  have  seen  that  the  condensation  of  water 
out  of  the  atmosphere  is  in  every  respect  similar 
to  the  process  by  which  the  first  liquid  shell  of  a 
world-body  is  formed,  with  this  exception  that 
the  fiery  liquid  develops  a  series  of  aggregate 
masses  from  the  bottom  up  and  in  a  direction  op- 
posite to  the  hitherto  prevailing  one.  A  vast 
atmosphere  extends  over  the  red-hot  liquid,  just 

71 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

as  we  still  see  it  in  the  case  of  the  sun.  On 
either  side  of  this  fiery  liquid  there  are  strata  of 
gases,  above  it  as  well  as  below  it,  and  the  at- 
mosphere above  it  is  supplied  from  that  below  it 
by  permeation,  just  as  we  see  it  in  the  case  of 
volcanoes  and  lava.  Rain  may  have  fallen  for 
thousands  of  years  out  of  that  dense  atmosphere, 
and  yet  no  drop  of  it  could  reach  the  surface. 
But  at  last  boiling  water  was  collected  in  hollows. 
Then  began  the  fierce  duel  between  fire  and  water, 
which  has  not  yet  been  settled,  although  we  plain- 
ly foresee  the  outcome.  The  hot  ponds  and  lakes 
developed  into  oceans,  and  finally  the  entire  globe 
wa  surrounded  by  water.  From  now  on  the 
succession  of  aggregate  conditions  is  completely 
subverted,  beginning  with  its  solid  shell.  Its  in- 
terior has  remained  gaseous,  and  is  surrounded 
by  a  layer  of  red  hot  liquid.  This,  again,  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  solid  crust,  which  in  turn  is  covered 
by  a  layer  of  liquid,  the  oceans,  and  ultimately  we 
have  a  layer  of  air,  the  atmosphere.  However, 
we  must  not  forget,  if  we  wish  to  understand  this 
peculiar  arrangement,  that  the  density  and  weight 
of  these  different  aggregate  conditions  continu- 
ally increases  from  the  outside  toward  the  inside. 
Some  ridges  of  the  primitive  rocks  may  always 
have  reached  above  the  hot  seas.  For  the  geolo- 

72 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

gists  distinguish  rocks  which  show  the  influence 
of  oceans  from  pristine  periods.  The  hot  waves 
broke  upon  these  rocks  and  wore  away  as  much 
of  them  as  possible.  The  oceans  were  saturated 
with  mineral  elements.  But  the  cooler  the  water 
becomes,  the  less  it  can  hold  of  soluble  substances. 
The  continuous  cooling  process  in  the  oceans, 
then  produces  similar  phenomena  as  the  gas  ball 
of  the  sun  and  our  atmosphere,  that  is  to  say, 
precipitations  take  place,  sediments  are  deposited 
on  the  bottom  of  the  ocean,  including  some  which 
consist  of  earthy  substances,  which  were  carried 
into  the  sea  by  the  mechanical  effects  of  the  surf 
or  of  rivers  formed  on  the  land.  Such  precipita- 
tions still  take  place  today.  We  call  the  layers 
thus  formed  sedimentary  strata.  Originally  cov- 
ering the  bottom  of  the  seas,  these  strata  are 
lifted  out  of  their  wet  grave  by  the  movements 
of  the  solid  crust,  the  causes  of  which  we  men- 
tioned a  while  ago.  Frequently  we  find  them 
horizontally  deposited  in  the  mountains.  They 
are  still  the  same  that  they  were  when  first 
formed,  only  they  may  be  thousands  of  meters 
above  the  surface  of  the  seas.  More  frequently 
these  strata  are  shoved  far  out  of  their  original 
position,  strongly  compressed,  or  torn  asunder. 
Thus  they  plainly  show  that  the  crust  of  the 

73 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

earth  moves  up  and  down  in  the  course  of  ages, 
and  that  there  is  nothing  constant  in  the  eternal 
process  of  the  universe.  These  creases  in  the 
rocks  may  be  easily  studied  on  the  romantic 
shores  of  Lake  Uri,  Switzerland,  when  wander- 
ing along  its  precipitous  side  on  Axen  road  to 
Fluelen.12 

How  could  such  creases  be  formed?  Just  as 
a  piece  of  cloth  is  folded,  when  shoved  together. 
Owing  to  continued  cooling,  the  earth  became 
smaller,  like  any  other  body  which  cools  off. 
Then  its  tough  skin  became  too  wide  and  folded 
up  in  creases.  Slowly  the  sedimental  strata  were 
lifted  out  of  the  oceans  and  shoved  along  the 
massive  rocks  of  the  primitive  mountains,  like 
waves  on  the  shore.  Frequently  they  were 
pushed  so  high  that  they  toppled  over  like  the 
crests  of  waves.  They  settled  over  one  another 
in  the  reverse  order  of  their  stratification.  In 
this  way  new  conformations  of  mountains  arose. 
The  wearing  effect  of  atmospheric  precipitation 
added  its  share  of  work.  These  precipitations 
could  attack  watery  strata  much  easier  than  those 
which  had  been  hardened  in  the  primitive  fires, 
and  thus  the  tops  of  the  primordial  mountains 
were  more  and  more  freed  from  the  sedimentary 
strata  which  covered  them.  For  this  reason  most 

74 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  the  high  mountain  chains  show  today  the  fol- 
lowing structure.  Their  highest  peaks  consist  of 
primitive  rocks,  granite,  gneiss,  etc.,  and  on  either 
side  of  them  the  heads  of  sedimentary  strata  join 
them,  the  oldest  of  them  being  closest  to  the  rocks. 
But  only  rarely  these  strata  are  symmetrically  ar- 
ranged on  both  sides  of  the  rocks.  For  instance, 
in  the  Alps  the  sediments  rise  but  gradually  in 
extended  foot  hills  on  the  northern  slope,  but  on 
the  southern  slope,  especially  toward  the  plain  of 
the  Po,  which  was  a  sea  a  relatively  short  time 
ago,  the  massive  granite  rises  steeply  from  the 
shore.  At  this  place,  a  landslide  took  place  sim- 
ilar to  that  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  this  region, 
like  the  Pacific,  was  a  volcano.  Only  narrow 
strips  of  sedimentary  strata  stretch  along  the 
foot  of  these  mighty  mountain  walls  of  pristine 
rock. 

These  sediments  were  gradually  corroded  into 
valleys  by  rivers.  At  first  the  simple  forms  of 
the  mountains  were  thus  traversed  by  a  network 
of  cross  and  longitudinal  furrows.  The  water 
thereby  helps  to  complete  the  circulation  of  the 
solid  parts  of  the  earth.  It  carries  them  back  into 
the  seas  in  which  they  originated  and  out  of  which 
they  were  once  lifted  by  the  forces  that  build 
mountains.  But  the  granite  backbone  of  the  high 

75 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

mountains  is  but  little  affected  by  the  water  it- 
self. Since  it  was  not  born  in  the  water,  granite 
withstands  those  corrosive  influences.  It  re- 
quires more  powerful  agencies  to  fell  the  stub- 
born granite  giants.  They  succumb,  however, 
to  the  explosive  action  of  ice,  which  destroys 
everything.  The  high  mountains  are  covered 
with  ice  and  snow  which  grind  even  the  hardest 
granite  into  round  blocks  or  cut  deep  fiords  into 
them,  wherever  fields  of  ice  glided  down  to  the 
seas.  The  interaction  of  the  upbuilding  forces 
of  mountains  and  the  corrosion  of  the  water  gave 
to  the  surface  of  the  earth  gradually  a  great 
variety.  This  play  of  interaction  still  continues 
ceaselessly  today.  We  can  see  with  our  own  eyes 
that  the  rivers  are  carrying  mountains  into  the 
plains.  On  the  other  hand  Penck  has  found 
plain  indications  that  the  Alps  are  being  lifted  all 
the  time.  The  "  eternal "  snows  on  these  rigid 
peaks  are  but  like  the  froth  of  heaving  billows 
for  a  mind  that  sends  its  glances  across  geological 
ages  and  passes  over  milleniums  as  though  they 
were  seconds. 

In  the  primitive  ages  of  the  earth's  history,  in 
which  continents,  mountains,  and  oceans  were 
formed,  there  was  still  a  heavy  atmosphere,  im- 
penetrable for  celestial  light,  extending  above 

76 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  globe.  Only  the  eruptions  of  volcanoes  and 
the  streams  of  lava  lighted  the  landscape,  which 
consisted  of  steaming  water  and  land.  No  living 
being  could  grow  here.  The  air  was  as  yet 
filled  with  stifling  mists,  which  came  out  of 
the  volcanoes  and  contained  doubtlessly  a  great 
deal  of  carbonic  acid,  a  deadly  poison  for  all 
animals.  It  is  true,  that  carbonic  acid  is,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  essential  element  for  the  life  of 
plants,  just  as  oxygen  is  for  us.  But  plants  re- 
quire also  light,  and  this  had  not  yet  appeared 
on  earth  in  those  primordial  days.  Perhaps  there 
was  no  sun,  then,  or  at  least  it  shone  but  feebly 
in  its  misty'  state  of  generation.  At  any  rate,  its 
rays  were  unable  to  penetrate  the  heavy  atmos- 
phere of  the  earth.  We  must  remember  that  at 
least  five  hundred  million  years  have  passed  since 
our  planet  passed  through  that  period,  and  we  do 
not  know  in  what  condition  the  sun  and  the  other 
parts  of  its  system  were  at  that  time.  Our  fore- 
going description  makes  it  plausible  that  the  sun 
was  much  larger  than1  it  is  today,  but  less  lumi- 
nous and  radiating  less  heat.  The  central  world 
to  which  we  owe  everything  that  nature  offers  to 
us  was  then  of  little  importance  for  our  globe. 
Even  though  this  world-body  in  the  center  of  its 
system  compelled  our  planet  to  circle  around  it  in 

77 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

a  time  corresponding  to  our  present  year,  the 
darkness  of  this  dreary  period  did  not  disclose 
this  fact.  The  earth  did  not  need  the  sun.  Our 
globe  had  still  enough  heat  of  its  own,  it  was 
itself  a  sun  nearing  extinction.  No  seasons,  no 
zones,  no  change  of  night  and  day  existed  in  that 
epoch  of  terrestrial  development  which  is  called 
the  archaic  period  by  the  geologists.  This  is  the 
period  in  which  those  primitive  rocks  were  formed 
which  we  have  mentioned  so  often,  and  which  are 
found  everywhere  in  the  lowest  depths  of  the 
earth  all  around  the  globe.  Never  has  any  trace 
of  organic  life  been  discovered  in  those  rocks. 

The  strata  of  archaic  rocks  pass  in  some  places 
by  imperceptible  degrees  into  stratified  minerals 
which  must  have  been  deposited  under  the  in- 
fluence of  water.  And  these  so-called  Cambrian 
strata  are  the  first  to  disclose  the  presence  of 
relics  of  a  very  precarious  life.  The  forms  of 
this  life  differ  widely  from  those  now  seen  in  the 
nature  about  us  and  belong  mainly  to  the  deep 
sea  type,  so  that  one  is  tempted  to  think  that  life 
first  originated  in  the  dark  depths  of  primitive 
oceans. 

But  how  could  it  get  here?  How  could  it 
arise  at  all  on  the  newborn  world-body,  which 
had  been  flooded  but  a  short  while  before,  by 

78 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

fierce  oceans  of  fire  that  would  have  destroyed, 
without  fail,  the  very  last  germs  of  life,  pro- 
vided that  any  should  have  been  contained  in 
primitive  matter? 

Perhaps  by  spontaneous  generation?  This  is 
the  most  difficult  of  all  questions  to  answer.  We 
can  touch  upon  it  but  lightly  at  this  point.  In 
another  volume  of  this  library,  entitled  "  The 
Evolution  of  Man,"  Bolsche  has  already  handled 
it  in  his  masterly  way.  He  takes  the  position  that 
a  spontaneous  generation,  that  is  to  say,  the  gen- 
eration of  the  first  organic  cells  out  of  so-called 
inorganic  substances,  actually  occurred  on  earth 
as  soon  as  the  moment  was  auspicious,  the  mo- 
ment in  which  the  requirements  of  organic  life, 
such  as  a  certain  temperature,  water,  air,  etc., 
were  available.  The  great  difficulty  at  this  point 
is  that  we  have  been  in  the  habit  of  attributing  to 
living  things  a  fundamental  faculty  which  was 
supposed  to  distinguish  them  radically  from  the 
forms  of  so-called  dead  nature.  This  is  the  prin- 
ciple of  sensation.  We  can  trace  all  external  phe- 
nomena of  nature  to  movements,  chemical  proc- 
esses, etc.,  or  at  least  we  see  our  way  clear  to  such 
an  explanation,  but  feeling,  consciousness,  which 
must  necessarily  be  present  in  its  most  elementary 
form  even  in  the  very  lowest  living  things,  can 

79 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

never  be  explained  out  of  movements.  Bolsche 
and  others  overcome  this  difficulty  by  attributing 
feeling  even  to  so-called  dead  things  from  the  very 
outset,  so  that  according  to  them  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  dead  matter  in  the  universe.  However, 
that  form  of  feeling,  which  we  observe  in  living 
things,  does  not  appear  until  certain  definite  re- 
quirements are  first  fulfilled.  It  follows,  that 
under  such  circumstances  even  a  stone  would  feel 
when  I  kick  it,  of  course  only  in  a  very  imperfect 
manner.  A  stone  has  no  organs  by  which  it 
might  manifest  feeling.  Even  plants,  that  in- 
termediate product  of  vital  development  accord- 
ing to  this  conception,  have  but  very  imperfect 
organs  for  this  purpose,  so  that  they  were  for  a 
long  time  considered  devoid  of  sensation.  There 
is  nothing  valid  that  can  be  said  against  such  a 
conception.  At  least  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
the  probability  of  such  a  thing.  One  might  even 
go  further  in  this,  following  in  the  steps  of  that 
imaginative  writer  who  declared  all  world-bodies 
to  be  living  beings,  cells  of  a  larger  common 
body.  So-called  dead  matter  is  the  bony  skeleton, 
and  we  living  beings  are  the  cells  which  cluster 
around  the  great  nucleus  of  the  earth,  and  so 
forth. 
The  only  drawback  of  Bolsche's  conception  is 

80 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

chat  it  canrot  be  proved  any  more  than  it  can  be 
disproved.  He  says  explicitly  that  we  shall  never 
be  able  to  perceive  expressions  of  life  in  a  stone, 
*nd  therefore  we  can  never  ascertain  whether  it 
really  has  any  sensation.  It  is  true,  and  Bolsche 
explains  it  very  nicely,  that  this  way  of  solving 
the  great  question  obtrudes  itself  almost  iresist- 
ibly,  when  we  reflect  that  everything  else  in  the 
universe  has  developed  from  the  simple  into  the 
complex.  This  applies  to  world-bodies,  living 
beings,  sensation,  so  far  as  we  are  able  to  ob- 
serve it,  consciousness,  the  intellectual  life  of 
man,  and  everything  else.  And  yet  there  are 
some  who  imagine  that  things  should  have  taken 
a  sudden  leap,  that  a  miracle  should  have  hap- 
pened at  a  period  when  the  earth  had  become 
sufficiently  cooled;  that  spirit,  born  of  nothing, 
for  it  was  not  on  the  burning  earth  before  that 
should  have  lodged  itself  suddenly  in  the  rigid 
stone  and  transformed  that  clod  of  earth  into  the 
first  amceba,  the  first  germ  of  life,  which  hence- 
forth could  develop  freely  into  a  man !  The  en- 
tire evolution  of  the  universe  required  but  this 
one  miracle.  All  other  things  which  took  place 
before  and  after  it  were  generally  explicable,  al- 
though much  of  it  still  remains  lo  be  clarified. 
The  theory  th»t  even  a  stone  contains  the  rudi- 

81 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

ments  of  consciousness  does  away  with  the  neces- 
sity of  a  miracle,  and  renders  the  entire  structure 
of  the  universe  still  more  uniform  than  before. 

All  this  is  much  like  a  confession  of  faith. 
Neither  side  can  substantiate  its  theory  by  proofs. 
It  is  true  that  we  find  all  the  great  principles  of 
development,  which  created  the  world  of  life,  just 
as  well  in  so-called  dead  nature.  It  is  not  the 
naive  imagination  of  the  ancients  alone  which 
attributes  the  genesis  of  the  universe  to  the  love 
and  hate  of  elements.  The  attraction  of  matter, 
the  irresistible  love  of  the  stone  for  its  kind, 
created  this  beautiful,  wondrous  order  of  the 
planetary  empires  out  of  the  chaos.  And  if  we 
were  to  limit  ourselves  to  poetical  language  with 
reference  to  matters  which  we  cannot  prove,  we 
might  discover  in  the  world  of  atoms  manifold 
traces  of  graduated  sympathies  and  antipathies, 
which  strikingly  resemble  the  manifestations  of  a 
sort  of  soul-life. 

But  of  course,  all  this  is  but  the  work  of 
phantasy.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  need  of 
further  explanation  is  not  done  away  with,  even 
if  there  were  some  truth  in  this  imagination. 
The  wonder  in  the  faculty  of  individual  sensa- 
tion and  mind,  which  so  widely  distinguish  the 
beings  endowed  with  them  from  the  remainder  of 

82 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

nature's  products,  is  thereby  transferred  merely 
to  a  deeper  level  and  to  a  latent  state,  which  we 
cannot  explain  any  better  than  the  active  principle 
of  mind. 

But  is  it  necessary  at  all  to  assume  the  creation 
of  mind?  Could  it  not  have  been  present  from 
eternity,  the  same  as  matter  and  its  ceaseless 
motion  ?  If  we  admit  that  motion  can  never  be 
mind,  that  the  arbitrary  motions  which  matter  ex- 
ecutes in  and  by  living  beings  are  but  expressions 
of  the  higher  power  of  mind  by  which  the  other- 
wise unalterable  forces  of  nature  are  guided,  then 
we  obtain  a  third  element  in  the  creation  of  the 
universe.  This  third  element  alone  enables  the 
universe  to  fulfill  its  highest  missions.  And  it 
must  have  been  present  from  all  eternity  the  same 
as  the  other  two  elements,  matter  and  its  motion.* 


*The  reader  will  notice  that  Dr.  Meyer  does  not 
intimate  here  that  his  third  principle,  the  guiding  prin- 
ciple of  the  universe,  is  a  supernatural  entity.  He  sim- 
ply classes  it  with  the  other  two  natural  elements, 
matter  and  motion.  He  claims,  indeed,  that  it  is  su- 
perior to  these  two  elements,  but  evidently  this  su- 
periority is  of  the  same  kind  as  that  of  the  human 
brain  over  the  central  nerve  system,  and  that  of  this 
nerve  system  over  the  muscles.  But  in  other  passages 
of  this  work  the  author  swerves  from  this  standpoint 
and  introduces  a  metaphysical  spirit  into  the  discussion. 
The  reader  therefore  remains  in  doubt  about  the  au- 
thor's position  on  this  vital  point.  It  is  evident  that 
Dr.  Meyer  does  not  solve  "  the  great  puzzle,"  but  simply 

83 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

It  is  strange  that  many  otherwise  excellent 
thinkers  should  have  had  so  much  difficulty  with 
the  assumption  that  the  miracle  of  the  spiritual- 
ization  of  dead  matter  should  have  taken  place  on 
earth.  For  the  difficulty  exists  only  so  long  as 
we  regard  our  planet  as  isolated  from  the  re- 
mainder of  the  universe.  We  still  meet  in  this 
alleged  difficulty  the  relics  of  the  pre-Copernican 
thought  that  the  earth  was  the  center  of  the 
universe  and  that  everything  all  around  this 
globe  was  unessential  and  had  no  determining 
influence  on  our  destinies.  Today  we  regard  the 
earth  as  a  vanishing  particle  in  an  endless  and 
intimately  interwoven  universe,  built  in  all  its 
parts  on  a  uniform  plan.  But  only  a  few,  who 
occupied  themselves  intensively  with  this  subor- 
dination of  ourselves  under  one  great  universal 
principle,  and  who  thereby  gave  all  our  medita- 
tions an  entirely  new  direction,  have  been  able  to 
overcome  fully  that  pre-Copernican  point  of  view. 

Now,  if  we  draw  the  logical  conclusion  from 
this  new  premise  as  to  the  question  of  the  genesis 

transfers  it  to  eternity,  which  is  equivalent  to  giving 
it  up  and  admitting  that  his  science  has  no  explanation, 
but  only,  as  he  says  himself,  on  the  preceding  page,  "  a 
confession  of  faith."  Readers  interested  in  the  solution 
of  this  puzzle  are  referred  to  the  works  of  Joseph 
Dietzgen.—  TRANSLATOR. 

84 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  life  on  earth,  we  must  admit  not  merely  the 
probability,  but  the  necessity  of  the  existence  of 
the  elements  of  life,  like  that  of  all  other  elements 
required  for  the  process  of  universal  evolution, 
from  all  eternity.  These  vital  elements  must 
have  spread  from  world-body  to  world-body 
and  fertilized  them  all.  But  if  this  is  a  necessary 
premise,  then  we  have  no  longer  to  grapple  with 
the  question,  whether  there  ever  was  such  a  thing 
as  spontaneous  generation,  nor  with  that  other, 
whether  life  is  latent  even  in  a  stone.  Those 
who  adhere  to  these  theories  may  be  right,  never- 
theless. But  at  any  rate  we  can  dispense  with  the 
idea  of  spontaneous  generation. 

We  have  only  two  assumptions  to  prove,  in  this 
case.  First  we  must  prove  that  life  existed  on 
other  planets,  and  in  the  second  place,  that  it  can 
be  carried  to  this  planet.  The  first  assumption 
can  never  be  strictly  proved,  for  I  doubt  that  our 
optical  instruments  will  ever  be  so  strong  that 
they  can  discover  indubitable  signs  of  life  on 
other  planets.  The  canals  of  Mars,  and  similar 
things,  will  always  remain  doubtful  testimony. 
On  the  other  hand,  we  are  certainly  not  entitled 
to  the  assumption  that  in  all  this  vast  universe 
the  earth  alone,  an  atom  in  the 'infinite,  should 
have  the  exclusive  privilege  of  generating  and 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

harboring  life.  This  would  be  a  completely  pre- 
Copernican  assumption.  In  any  case,  we  can 
prove  that  in  such  an  event  the  earth  must  have 
fertilized  the  remainder  of  the  universe  if  all  the 
rest  of  this  universe  had  really  been  dead.  The 
germinal  spores  of  the  minutest  living  beings, 
the  bacteria,  are  so  small  that  they  must  occasion- 
ally leave  our  planet  and  its  sphere  of  gravitation, 
when  carried  to  the  highest  regions  of  our  atmo- 
sphere. Then  they  mustVvvarm  through  space.  It 
has  been  demonstrated  that  the  pressure  of  light 
alone  is  sufficient  to  carry  them  from  one  planet 
to  another.  It  has  been  shown,  furthermore,  that 
these  germs,  and  even  the  germs  of  higher  organ- 
ized beings,  can  endure  the  cold  of  space  without 
injury  to  their  vital  power,  which  will  develop  as 
soon  as  they  find  the  necessary  conditions  for  it. 
If  they  get  into  the  sphere  of  influence  of  some 
world-body  related  to  their  birth-place,  even  after 
immeasurable  periods  of  time,  then  they  must  fer- 
tilize it.  This  answers  in  the  affirmative  our  sec- 
ond question,  that  of  the  transmissibility  of  life 
from  world-body  to  world-body.  And  if  the 
earth  can  awaken  life  on  other  world-bodies,  then 
it  must  also  have  received  germs  of  life  from 
them.  Life  must  have  rained  down  upon  us  from 
heaven. 

$6 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

This  took  place  at  all  periods,  and  it  is  still 
taking  place.  Only,  none  but  the  very  minutest 
germs  can  reach  us  in  this  way,  under  normal  cir- 
cumstances. That  kind  of  germs  are  found  every- 
where in  our  air.  Nobody  can  testify  to  their 
descent.  Every  microscopical  preparation  may 
contain  hundreds  of  such  immigrants  from  the 
remotest  regions  of  the  universe. 

So  long  as  the  surface  of  the  earth  and  its  at- 
mospheric shell  were  too  hot,  these  germs  were 
killed.  Gradually  they  survived,  first  in  the 
highest  regions  of  the  air  nearest  to  cold  space, 
and  the  rain  carried  them  from  here  to  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth.  Wherever  the  solid  ground 
projected  above  the  seas,  in  the  first  periods  of 
germinal  emigration,  it  was  doubtlessly  still  too 
hot  to  enable  even  these  unpretentious  germs  to 
develop.  But  the  seas  had  generally  a  somewhat 
lower  temperature,  even  on  their  surface,  because 
they  were  continually  cooled  by  atmospheric  pre- 
cipitations. The  lowest  temperature,  however, 
was  found  in  the  depth  of  the  seas,  in  which  the 
coldest  water  settles  because  it  is  the  heavier. 
For  this  reason  the  solid  crust  of  the  earth  would 
cool  off  most  rapidly  under  the  seas  and  become 
thicker  there  than  under  the  continental  agglom- 
erations. The  bottom  of  the  seas  soon  became 

87 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

more  resistant  against  the  pressure  of  volcanic 
eruptions  than  other  regions,  so  that  conditions 
became  more  peaceful  here.  Contrary  to  all  ex- 
pectation, the  conditions  favorable  for  the  de- 
velopment of  life  were  first  present  at  the  bottom 
of  the  seas.  The  depths  of  the  seas  are  to  this 
day  as  dark  as  they  were  then,  and  for  this 
reason  it  was  doubted  for  a  long  time  that  any 
life  could  exist  there.  For  all  life,  even  the  very 
first,  on  any  world-body  organized  even  remotely 
like  the  earth,  needs  light  directly  and  indirectly. 
All  animals,  even  those  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea, 
can  live  in  the  last  resort  only  from  plants,  and 
no  plant  grows  without  light.  But  vegetable 
nutriment  is  carried  into  the  dark  depths  of  the 
oceans  by  the  plankton,  minute  living  beings 
swimming  in  the  oceans.  In  the  depths  still 
reached  by  the  light,  algae,  that  is  to  say  plants, 
mingle  freely  with  the  plankton.  None  of  these 
things  reached  the  ocean  by  way  of  the  land,  all 
of  them  belonged  to  the  waters.  If  the  first 
germs. of  life  really  came  out  of  the  universe  out- 
side of  the  earth,  they  found  in  the  highest 
regions  of  the  earth's  atmosphere  all  the  re- 
quirements of  their  development,  provided  a  sun 
existed  then.  And  in  the  same  way  the  plankton 
of  the  seas  found  its  requirements  of  life  ready 

88, 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

at  hand  in  due  time.  The  atmospheric  plankton 
sank  with  the  rain  into  lower  strata  of  the  atmos- 
phere and  spread  the  life  in  them,  even  if  no  light 
could  penetrate  so  far.  And  finally  it  reached 
the  bottom  of  the  seas.  Even  on  the  surface  of 
the  solid  crust  animal  life  could  spread,  provided 
only  that  the  temperature  had  become  bearable. 

In  keeping  with  these  assumptions,  we  find 
indubitable  traces  of  a  low  animal  life  only  in 
those  strata  of  the  solid  crust  of  the  earth  which 
were  deposited  by  the  primitive  oceans '  directly 
over  the  crystalline  rocks.  Higher  up  we  find 
plain  evidences  of  deep  sea  forms.  All  these  first 
animals  were  blind.  There  was  no  light  in  their 
world,  and  it  seems  that  they  had  not  yet  in- 
vented that  self-luminosity  which  is  exhibited  by 
our  present  deep  sea  animals.  The  most  highly 
developed  beings  of  this  Cambrian  formation, 
which  is  the  lowest  stage  of  the  Paleozoic 
Period,  are  the  trilobites.13  They  are  deep  sea 
animals  of  the  crawfish  class,  resembling  wood- 
lice.  These  ugly-looking  creatures  must  have 
been  very  abundant  in  the  pristine  oceans,  and 
only  a  few  species  of  them  must  have  existed. 
Large  masses  of  them  are  found  in  a  fossil  state 
in  the  strata  of  that  period.  The  hard  shell  of 
the$e  primitive  crustaceans  and  the  peculiar  proc- 

89 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

fcss  of  fossilization  preserved  them  for  us  through 
passages  of  time  which  surely  are  measured  by 
millions  of  years.  Such  trilobites  no  longer  exist 
in  our  present  oceans*  On  the  other  hand,  fishes 
did  not  exist  in  that  period.  Life,  molded  into 
repulsive  forms,  crawled  about  on  the  dark  bot- 
toms of  the  primitive  oceans.  There  was  as  yet 
no  trace  of  any  land  animals  or  plants.  Prob- 
ably there  was  no  inhabitable  land  at  that  period. 

But  to  the  extent  that  we  ascend  into  higher 
strata  of  the  earth's  surface,  we  meet  with  more 
highly  developed  forms  of  life  and  notice  that 
the  growing  tree  of  life  branches  out  into  a 
greater  variety  of  organisms.  And  it  could  not 
be  otherwise.  Since  there  was  a  time  when  life 
did  not  exist  on  earth,  it  could  expand  only  step 
by  step,  no  matter  by  what  means.  Whether  liv- 
ing organisms  developed  into  higher  species 
through  the  struggle  of  existence  with  their  kind, 
as  Darwin  assumed,  or  whether  they  adapted 
themselves  to  the  successive  changes  in  their 
conditions  of  life,  such  as  the  fall  of  the  tefn- 
perature,  the  extension  of  dry  land,  and  its  mani- 
fold transformations,  as  Lamarck  assumed,  in 
any  event  their  rise  had  to  be  gradual. 

So  we  see  in  the  Silurian  formations,  which 
are  located  directly  above  tlae  Cambrian,  a 

90 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

greater  variety  of  species  of  trilobites  than  be- 
fore, and  their  forms  are  better  developed.  They 
have  the  first  rudiments  of  eyes,  although  the 
eyes  themselves  have  not  yet  developed.  Life 
was  born  blind,  just  as  many  animals  are  to  this 
day,  but  it  was  gradually  prepared  for  sight.  In 
the  median  strata  of  this  formation  we  meet  with 
a  genuine  lobster,  which  has  large  eyes,  while  it 
is  otherwise  still  rather  clumsy.14  This  does  not 
necessarily  indicate  that  the  light  of  the  sun 
penetrated  to  the  depths  in  which  these  animals 
lived.  It  is  rather  more  probable  tbat  the  lu- 
minant  deep  sea  aninlals  had  developed  by  this 
time.  We  meet  with  glass-sponges  and  sea- 
lilies,  similar  to  those  which  we  still  find  in  our 
own  day.  Furthermore  we  find  in  those  median 
strata  of  the  Silurian  period  a  great  variety  of 
molluscs,  snails,  octopus-like  species  of  nautilus, 
starfishes,  sea-urchins.  And  in  the  highest  Silu- 
rian strata  we  find  even  fishes.  At  the  same  time 
we  meet  with  marine  plants,  such  as  algae,  and 
there  are  also  relics  of  land  plants  which  indicate 
that  the  first  light  was  then  penetrating  to  the 
surface  of  this  globe.  Along  with  these  organ- 
isms, we  discover  in  these  strata  the  lime  and 
silica  shells  of  radiolariae  and  foraminiferae,  which 
still  constitute  today  the  main  portion  of  the 

91 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

plankton,  precipitated  out  of  the  world  of  light 
into  the  mysterious  depths  of  dark  and  cold  ocean 
regions,  and  nourishing  their  life. 

Above  the  Silurian  strata  we  find  the  Devonian. 
Here  the  fossil  remains  tell  of  more  perfect  or- 
ganisms than  in  the  lower  strata,  but  nevertheless 
these  strange  forms  represent  as  yet  a  very  poor 
life.15  Not  one  of  those  forms  resembles  any 
now  living.  Fishes,  still  scarce  in  the  Silurian 
developed  very  strongly  in  the  Devonian  period. 
Life  rose  from  the  bottom  of  the  seas  and  ex- 
panded in  all  three  dimensions  through  the  open 
waters,  from  which  it  had  at  first  descended  as  a 
fertile  rain  of  germs.  The  bottom  of  the  oceans 
was  thus  the  womb  of  all  living  things. 

Among  the  fishes  there  appeared  at  that  period 
the  shark,  a  member  of  that  low  genus  of  car- 
tilege  fishes  which  has  eaten  its  way  through  all 
the  ages  of  creation.  Such  a  predatory  race  is 
hard  to  overcome. 

The  land  must  have  become  a  little  more  in- 
habitable at  this  period.  Land  plants  appear 
sparsely.  Together  with  them  a  few  species  of 
insects  were  seen,  but  only  such  as  even  now- 
adays love  dark  and  warm  places,  for  instance 
cockroaches.  So  the  atmosphere  must  have  been 
still  gloomy  and  heavy. 

93 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

After  that  we  suddenly  encounter  a  tremendous 
improvement.  In  the  Carboniferous  strata  we 
come  across  giant  weeds.  These  are  found  all 
around  the  earth  and  their  luxuriant  masses  were 
active  in  building  our  coal  deposits.  Evidently 
this  rank  development  of  the  plant-world  took 
place  very  rapidly.  The  young  continents,  here- 
tofore so  desolate,  covered  themselves  suddenly 
with  a  dense  growth  of  verdure.  We  may  well 
understand  that.  The  young  soil  was  still  warm, 
and  above  it  hovered  a  heavy  atmosphere  which 
did  not  permit  the  warmth  of  this  soil  to  evapo- 
rate quickly  into  space,  any  more  than  a  roof  of 
opaque  glass  would.  The  conditions  were  like 
those  in  a  hothouse,  except  that  light  was  want- 
ing or  insufficient.  But  no  plant  can  thrive  with- 
out light.  This  is  the  most  indispensable  of  all 
requirements  of  plant  life.  Light  alone  accom- 
plishes the  miracle  of  awakening  dead  matter  to 
life.  Light  builds  up  from  the  inert  atoms  of 
inorganic  soil  a  sentient  living  being,  provided 
that  this  soil  has  first  been  impregnated  with  one 
of  those  mysterious  vital  germs,  which  we  have 
seen  speeding  through  the  universe  and  scatter- 
ing the  happiness  of  sensation.  Life  desires 
light.  Although  we  have  seen  that  there  are 
some  beings  that  do  not  care  for  the  light  them- 

93 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

selves,  still  we  know  that  they  all  live  on  plants, 
directly  or  indirectly.  This  life-giving  light  was 
wanting  hitherto  on  the  surface  of  the  globe. 
But  as  soon  as  the  crust  of  the  earth  closed  in 
about  its  center,  so  that  the  fiery  magma  could 
no  longer  send  large  masses  of  obscuring  smoke 
and  ashes  into  the  air,  the  light  of  the  sun  was 
able  to  penetrate.  From  now  on  the  surface  of 
the  earth  presented  the  spectacle  of  a  huge  hot- 
house. The  growth  of  plants  was  favored, 
among  other  things,  by  a  far  greater  amount  of 
carbonic  acid  in  the  atmosphere  than  is  contained 
in  it  now.  It  is  well  known  that  this  gas  is 
still  exhaled  by  the  interior  of  the  earth  through 
volcanoes.  The  plants  possess  the  faculty  of  as- 
similating the  carbon  from  this  gas,  which  is  a 
poison  for  the  animal-world,  and  to  set  free  the 
oxygen,  the  vital  element  of  animals.  The  car- 
bon in  the  plants  is  indeed  bound  to  other  ele- 
ments, but  these  were  set  free  by  the  slow  process 
of  distillation  during  the  disintegration  of  the 
plants  in  the  swamps  in  which  most  of  them  used 
to  thrive  at  that  period.  In  this  way  the  swamps 
gradually  became  reservoirs  of  almost  pure  car- 
bon, which  enables  us  even  now,  after  millions  of 
years,  to  utilize  the  power  of  the  first  sunlight 
which  fell  upon  the  young  earth.  In  those  days 

94 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

this  splendid  light  had  primarily  the  duty  of  pro- 
ducing a  rank  growth  of  plants.  For  only  com- 
paratively few  land  animals  existed  then,  prob- 
ably because  the  excess  of  carbonic  acid  in  the  air 
was  injurious  for  them.  The  plants  thus  per- 
formed the  task  of  purifying  the  air  for  the  sub- 
sequent development  of  a  higher  animal-life  on 
the  land. 

The  plant-world  of  the  Carboniferous  period 
consisted  mainly  of  giant  ferns,  mosses,  shave- 
grasses,  which  still  vegetate  today  in  swampy 
regions  as  degenerate  representatives  of  a  time 
in  which  their  powerful  ancestors  dominated  the 
earth.16  They  still  avoid  the  direct  sunlight  as 
much  as  possible.  It  seems,  then,  that  but  a  dim 
light  penetrated  the  still  murky  atmosphere  of 
that  period.  No  plant  of  that  age  produced  any 
blossoms,  for  the  beautiful  variety  of  colored 
flowers  can  be  born  only  in  bright  sunlight.  The 
plants  of  the  Carboniferous  age  belonged  exclu- 
sively to  the  low  order  of  cryptogamous  vege- 
tation, which  shield  their  germs  against  the  light. 
Of  this  class  are  the  ferns,  which  hide  their  fruit 
under  their  leaves  and  expose  them  so  much  more 
to  the  warmth  coming  from  the  soil. 

Along  with  these  herbaceous  plants,  which 
grew  to  a  giant  size,  the  vegetation  of  this  period 

95 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

shows  the  first  pine  forests,  that  is  to  say,  real 
trees  which  have  likewise  maintained  themselves 
to  this  day,  although  in  different  species.  In- 
deed, they  are  still  the  predominating  class  of 
trees.  Palms  or  deciduous  trees  did  not  yet  exist. 

These  primeval  forests  of  giant  weeds  were  in- 
habited by  some  little  developed  animal  life  repre- 
sented mostly  by  insects.  Especially  white  ants 
of  large  size,  which  still  live  in  the  tropics,  were 
then  building  their  art  structures  in  the  green 
gloaming  of  that  queer  time.  It  seems  as 
though  intelligence,  which  in  a  general  way  de- 
veloped in  the  evolution  of  animal  forms,  was 
destined  to  reach  its  highest  summit  in  the  class 
of  insects.  We  know  that  ants,  bees,  and  other 
insects,  have  many  traits  of  advanced  faculties. 
But  in  the  course  of  events  it  was  found  that  this 
branch  of  the  tree  of  life,  although  relatively  high 
in  the  scale,  was  not  capable  of  further  develop- 
ment, and  that  another  branch  would  grow  be- 
yond it,  spreading  into  a  magnificent  top. 

Together  with  white  ants  and  other  insects, 
which  still  prefer  darkness  and  bad  air,  this 
period  also  produced  some  higher  developed 
swamp-dwellers,  newts  of  the  Stegocephalus 
kind.  These  had  evidently  developed  out  of 
fishes.  The  life  of  the  oceans  crawled  ashore, 

96 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

assuming  at  first  forms  which  could  live  in  both 
elements,  but  preferred  the  water,  in  other  words, 
amphibians.  Genuine  reptiles  were  not  present 
at  that  period.  All  these  forms  were  unosten- 
tatious. The  animal-world  still  played  an  in- 
significant role  ashore,  while  it  filled  the  waters 
with  a  variety  of  ever  more  perfect  forms.  But 
no  new  classes  of  marine  forms  were  produced 
after  this.  If  we  make  exception  of  the  marine 
mammals,  whose  ancestors  evidently  lived  ashore 
and  were  crowded  back  into  the  sea  at  a  later 
epoch,  we  find  that  the  marine  animal-world  did 
not  send  out  any  new  branches  after  the  fishes, 
but  merely  modified  the  existing  forms.  It  is 
noteworthy  that  from  now  on  the  marine  fauna 
becomes  much  more  rapidly  similar  to  that  of  the 
present  age  than  the  land  animals.  This  is  easily 
explained  by  the  fact  that  the  conditions  of  life  in 
'the  oceans  have  changed  much  less  since  primeval 
times  than  those  on  shore.  Consequently  there 
was  less  necessity  for  new  adaptations  leading  to 
new  forms. 

In  the  development  of  life  during  the  Carbon- 
iferous period,  there  is  one  peculiarity  which  ex- 
cites wonder.  We  find  coal  deposits  in  all  lati- 
tudes of  the  earth,  from  the  most  southern  to  the 
extreme  northern.  And  everywhere  it  was  the 

97 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

same  plants  which  grew  equally  rank  in  the  tropi- 
cal and  in  the  polar  regions.  Now  this  seems 
impossible  from  the  point  of  view  of  present 
conditions  on  earth.  Even  though  the  general 
circumstances  connected  with  this  period  pro- 
duced a  hothouse  temperature  all  around  the 
earth,  owing  to  the  heat  in  the  interior  of  this 
globe,  still  those  plants  required  some  sunlight, 
however  dim.  But  this  would  be  absent  for 
many  months  in  the  polar  regions,  provided  that 
the  position  of  the  earth's  axis  was  the  same  as 
now.  In  that  case  no  such  vegetation  as  that  of 
the  Carboniferous  period  could  exist  in  those 
regions.  But  we  actually  find  well  developed 
coal  on  Spitzbergen,  and  a  recent  Belgian  expedi- 
tion discovered  fossil  remains  of  a  former  lux- 
uriant vegetation  in  the  vicinity  of  the  South 
Pole.  No  matter  how  much  we  turn  the  axis  of 
the  earth  around  its  present  position,  we  do  not 
get  away  from  this  difficulty  so  long  as  we  as- 
sume its  position  to  have  been  fixed.  There 
would  be  always  some  region  which  would  be 
temporarily  or  permanently  without  light,  and  a 
necessary  corollary  is  a  classification  into  zones, 
which  evidently  did  not  exist  at  that  time.  Some 
have  tried  to  resort  to  the  explanation  that  in 
those  days,  several  hundred  millions  of  years 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

ago,  the  entire  solar  system  may  have  had  a 
different  construction.  For  instance,  there  may 
have  been  several  suns.  Of  course,  it  is  always 
easy  to  resort  to  such  expedients,  for  they  can- 
not be  proved  or  disproved.  However,  it  may 
well  be  admitted  that  the  solar  system  was  in- 
deed differently  constituted  in  those  days.  And 
this  may  be  so  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  modern 
astronomers  claim  its  present  constitution  to  have 
become  almost  infinitely  stable.  In  that  case  it 
has  passed  into  stable  conditions  which  did  not 
exist  in  former  ages.  But  if  we  follow  this  road 
too  far,  we  get  into  unfathomable  regions. 

If  we  take  our  departure  from  tolerably  known 
premises,  then  only  one  possibility  remains  for 
the  explanation  of  primitive  conditions  of  tem- 
perature, which  become  still  more  mysterious  in 
subsequent  periods  of  terrestrial  evolution.  The 
axis  of  the  earth  must  have  had  a  different  posi- 
tion than  nowadays,  and  the  poles  were  located 
in  regions  which  have  not  been  geologically  in- 
vestigated so  far.  For  instance,  if  the  North 
Pole  of  the  Carboniferous  period  was  situated 
in  a  region  now  occupied  by  the  interior  of 
China,  which  has  been  little  explored  and  cer- 
tainly has  not  revealed  any  coal  deposits  so  far, 
then  the  South  Pole  would  also  have  been  in 

99 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

regions  which  are  not  accessible  to  exploration. 
That  would  imply  a  wandering  of  the  poles  from 
their  primeval  to  their  present  position.  This 
may  have  taken  place  gradually  or  suddenly. 
We  mentioned  previously  the  probability  of  a 
sudden  dislocation  of  the  terrestrial  axis  by  a 
collision  with  some  cosmic  body.  But  it  is  also 
possible  that  this  displacement  may  have  pro- 
ceeded gradually,  carrying  the  poles  in  a  spiral 
across  the  surface  of  the  earth.  It  is  true  that, 
until  a  few  decades  ago,  the  position  of  the 
earth's  axis  was  regarded  as  the  only  .constant 
thing  in  nature.  But  in  the  meantime  oscilla- 
tions of  the  axis  have  been  observed  beyond  a 
doubt.  The  causes  for  these  oscillations  can  be 
located  in  our  day  only  in  slow  migrations  of 
terrestrial  masses,  such  as  may  be  originated  by 
eruptions  of  volcanoes,  earthquakes,  and  tectonic 
movements  of  the  earth's  surface  in  general.  It 
seems  as  a  matter  of,  fact  that  the  degree  of  the 
polar  oscillations  at  any  time  is  corresponding  to 
the  violence  of  the  volcanic  phenomena.  Such 
mass  movements  were  no  doubt  far  more  notice- 
able in  primitive  times  than  today,  and  it  may 
be  that  their  direction  was  for  a  long  time  such 
as  implied  a  progressive  precession  of  the  poles. 
By  this  means  all  parts  of  the  globe  would  have 

100 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

been  transferred  to  the  various  zones  in  succes- 
sion, and  no  region  would  have  been  held  per- 
manently in  the  rigid  cold  of  the  polar  zones 
which  prevented  them  from  serving  in  the  propa- 
gation of  life.  Such  an  eternal  circulation  of 
events  is  long  recognized  to  be  the  supreme  prin- 
ciple of  all  natural  processes.  The  migration  of 
the  poles  across  the  entire  surface  of  the  globe 
is  the  only  natural  solution  of  the  great  problem 
of  primitive  conditions  of  temperature. 

This  precession  of  the  poles  may  also  be  the 
cause  of  the  remarkable  fact  that  the  luxuriant 
life  of  the  Carboniferous  period  was  followed  by 
a  stage  of  universal  impoverishment,  which  is 
known  as  the  Permian  period.  The  tree  of  vital 
development  continued  indeed  to  grow  during 
this  stage.  The  amphibians  of  the  Carbonif- 
erous stage  were  followed  in  the  Permian  by 
slightly  advanced  reptiles.  But  the  tree  of  life 
began  to  shed  its  leaves.  It  was  as  though  a 
period  of  hibernation  was  impending,  in  which 
nature  was  husbanding  its  resources.  We  shall 
meet  another  similar  period  of  universal  decline 
later  on  just  before  the  present  age,  in  the 
Glacial  period.  The  Permian  period  did  not  ex- 
perience a  complete  glaciation,  but  it  bears  some 
traces  of  ice  nevertheless.  Perhaps  the  earth 

101 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

had  still  enough  heat  of  its  own  to  prevent  an 
extended  glaciation,  even  around  the  poles  of  that 
period.  It  has  long  been  assumed  that  the  de- 
posits of  that  period,  such  as  red  sandstone,  mine 
stone,  and  others,  carry  few  relics  of  life,  be- 
cause in  the  course  of  development  they  were 
formed  in  less  favored  localities,  and  that  further 
research  in  hitherto  inaccessible  territories  might 
disclose  the  presence  of  abundant  life  also  in 
these  strata.  It  may  be  that  the  poles  were  wan- 
dering at  that  period  close  to  such  regions  and 
left  them  devoid  of  life. 

The  Permian  period  closes  the  era  of  Paleo- 
zoic formations.  With  the  following,  the  so- 
called  Trias  formation,  we  enter  the  Mesozoic 
period.  This  formation,  so  far  as  it  is  next  to 
the  red  sandstone,  is  still  very  poorly  equipped 
with  life's  relics,  although  they  show  a  percepti- 
ble improvement  in  this  regard.  The  two  upper 
strata  of  the  Trias  formation,  the  shell  marl  and 
the  chalk,  bear  evidences  of  a  strong  forward 
development.  The  reptiles  increase  enormously 
in  species,  in  numbers,  and  in  size.  The  power- 
ful saurians  apppear,  such  monsters  as  the  Ich- 
thyosaurians17  P I  esio  saurians,18  etc.,  which 
reached  their  highest  development  in  the  Juras- 
sic period  following  the  Trias.  These  saurians 

102 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

are  intermediate  forms  between  fishes  and  lizards. 
Some  of  them  still  had  the  queer  eyes  of  the  deep 
sea  fishes,  showing  that  sunlight  did  not  yet  shine 
very  brightly,  or  that  the  seas  were  very  turbid. 
These  saurians  surely  were  no  genuine  deep  sea 
animals.  For  we  know  that  reptiles  have  lungs, 
which  compel  them  to  breathe  air,  although  they 
may  be  without  it  for  a  long  time. 

In  those  days,  the  first  mammals  put  in  their 
appearance.  The  highest  and  most  beautiful 
branch  of  terrestrial  life  began  to  germinate  at 
this  time.  But  it  remained  small  and  unosten- 
tatious, so  that  no  one  could  have  recognized  its 
great  importance.  It  was  represented  by  a  few 
marsupials,  the  lowest  stage  of  mammals. 

The  plant-world  had  not  changed  its  forms  very 
noticeably  from  those  of  the  Carboniferous 
period,  but  it  had  lost  its  luxuriance.  Even  now 
there  were  no  flowering  plants  and  no  deciduous 
trees.  However,  the  ferns,  shave-grasses,  etc., 
while  still  existing,  no  longer  dominated  the 
landscape.  Pine  forests  developed  more  vigor- 
ously, and  evergreen  plants,  such  as  palms,  ap- 
peared. The  geographical  distribution  of  such 
plants  did  not  show  any  classification  according 
to  zones.  Fossil  remains  of  palms  are  found 
also  in  our  present  polar  regions.  It  is  certain, 

103 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

then,  that  the  entire  surface  of  the  earth  enjoyed 
a  higher  temperature  than  now. 

Now,  if  we  ascend  to  the  next  formation  in  the 
scale,  the  Jurassic,  we  meet  once  more  a  climax 
in  natural  evolution,  which  produced  the  most 
hideous  monsters  among  the  reptiles,  animals  that 
look  as  though  they  were  the  offspring  of  a  dis- 
eased imagination.  Just  take  a  look  at  the  Cer- 
atosaurus  in  our  illustration ! 19  This  animal,  re- 
sembling in  a  general  way  a  kangaroo,  reached 
a  height  of  seven  meters  when  erect,  that  is  to  say 
five  times  the  hight  of  a  man.  A  prominent  place 
among  the  reptiles  of  this  period  is  occupied  by 
that  winged  dragon,  the  Pterodactylus,  a  flying 
lizard.20  Nature  had  made  a  first  timid  attempt 
to  conquer  the  air  for  its  organized  life  by  means 
of  winged  insects,  just  as  it  had  conquered  the 
waters  by  starting  out  from  the  bottom  of  the 
seas.  But  these  insects  did  not  venture  beyond 
a  narrow  zone,  and  they  were  not  conspicuous 
forms.  Now  the  creative  and  incessantly  busy 
force  of  nature  advanced  more  boldly  into  the 
airy  regions.  It  attempted  to  create  a  being 
which  should  be  equally  well  at  home  in  all  three 
modes  of  motion,  which  should  be  a  good  swim- 
mer in  the  water,  a  good  walker  on  shore,  and  a 
good  flyer  in  the  air.  If  a  large  animal  was  to 

104 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

learn  how  to  fly,  it  had  to  be  a  good  swimmer. 
For  if  the  first  attempts  at  flying  should  result 
in  failure,  a  heavy  body  might  easily  be  killed 
by  a  fall.  Human  beings  who  nowadays  make 
attempts  at  flying,  also  prefer  to  do  so  over  a 
lake,  in  order  that  the  yielding  element  of  water 
may  ease  their  fall  in  case  of  accident.  And  if 
nature  intended  to  develop  reptiles  into  birds, 
then  it  could  do  no  better  than  to  teach  reptiles 
how  to  fly.  Thus  arose  that  terrible  flying  lizard, 
which  must  have  been  the  greatest  terror  even 
of  that  time  so  full  of  horrible  shapes.  Our  illus- 
tration shows  a  skeleton  of  this  monster.  Be- 
tween its  body  and  one  of  its  long  fingers  armed 
with  sharp  claws  there  was  stretched  a  skin  sim- 
ilar to  that  of  a  bat,  which  served  as  a  support 
and  means  of  flight.  Between  these  two  wings, 
a  horrible  head  with  the  jaws  of  a  crocodile  was 
attached  to  a  long  neck.  Some  species  were  also 
supplied  with  a  long  tail  which  added  to  the  un- 
couthness  of  their  form.  Just  imagine  a  flying 
alligator  hurling  itself,  like  a  giant  bat,  of  a 
fabulous  vampire,  out  of  the  air  upon  its  victim 
and  enveloping  it  with  its  nasty  and  clammy  fly- 
ing skins. 

And  yet  this  most  horrible  of  all  animals  cre- 
ated by  nature,  this  monster  preying  in  all  ele- 

105 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

ments,  was  unable  to  acquire  the  supremacy  in 
any  of  them.  It  was  as  though  nature  had  at- 
tempted too  much  at  one  time.  And  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  common  experience  that  he  who  would 
pursue  several  aims  simultaneously  will  never  ac- 
complish as  much  in  any  one  line  as  the  specialist. 
So  it  seems  that  flying  lizards,  or  flying  reptiles 
in  general,  were  failures.  Nature  did  not  con- 
tinue its  experiments  along  this  line.  These 
forms  very  soon  disappeared  in  the  subsequent 
geological  periods. 

Nevertheless  this  venturesome  and  ugly  form 
was  a  necessary  stage  of  transition  to  the  beauti- 
ful and  merry  race  of  birds,  the  dwellers  of  the 
air.  We  have  seen  that  nature  could  teach  ani- 
mals the  art  of  flying  only  over  the  waters. 
Faculties  acquired  in  the  struggle  for  existence 
are  inherited.  So  the  flying  reptile  was  gradually 
transformed  into  a  reptilian  bird,  oi  which  Archa- 
opteryx  was  a  type.  This  animal  embellished  it- 
self with  feathers  while  its  head  had  still  a  reptil- 
ian shape  and  was  provided  with  reptilian  teeth. 
Only  two  specimens  of  this  bird  have  so  far  been 
found  in  a  fossil  state.  The  illustration  in  this 
book  is  made  after  a  specimen  preserved  in  the 
Berlin  Museum  of  Natural  History.21 

If  a  genuine  bird  was  to  disport  itself  in  the 

106 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

air,  then  the  atmosphere  had  to  be  comparatively 
pure  and  clear.  No  bird  can  move  in  a  murky 
or  misty  air  without  risking  injury  by  flying 
against  solid  objects  which  it  perceives  too  late 
to  avoid  them.  However,  conditions  on  this 
globe  now  approached  more  and  more  those  of 
our  own  age,  at  least  so  far  as  general  principles 
are  concerned,  while  the  individual  forms  were 
still  considerably  different  from  those  of  the  pres- 
ent day,  especially  their  organic  development 
being  still  imperfect.  The  Jurassic  period  has 
left  us  relics  of  but  very  inferior  mammals.  It 
had  neither  deciduous  trees  nor  flowering  plants. 
So  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  ascertain  by 
exploration,  the  temperature  of  that  period  was 
still  uniformly  tropical.  There  were  no  indica- 
tions of  any  classification  in  zones  nor  of  seasons. 
Deciduous  trees  represent  a  necessary  adaptation 
to  such  changes  of  season.  The  same  applies  also 
to  animals  with  warm  blood,  which  were  not  yet 
in  existence.  By  the  way,  it  is  incorrect  to  call 
reptiles  and  amphibians  cold-blooded  animals. 
Their  temperature  is  that  of  their  environment, 
which  in  our  latitudes  is,  indeed,  below  that  of 
our  blood.  But  in  the  tropics  the  temperature 
of  reptilian  blood  is  almost  the  same  as  that  of 
our  own  blood.  At  that  remote  period,  in  which 

107 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  temperature  was  still  universally  tropical,  all 
animals  were  warm-blooded.  However,  below  a 
certain  temperature  the  protein  of  the  animal 
body  coagulates  and  the  circulation  stops.  Ani- 
mals which  are  not  so  organized  that  they  can 
maintain  their  bodily  temperature  by  their  own 
devices  above  a  certain  degree  become  sluggish 
and  finally  rigid.  They  fall  asleep  during  the 
winter  and  remain  in  a  deathlike  torpor.  The 
reptiles  of  that  period  never  had  to  face  such 
an  eventuality,  and  for  this  reason  they  developed 
abundantly.  But  when  a  change  of  seasons  took 
place,  new  forms  had  to  be  created,  which  should 
be  able  to  live  actively  through  the  winter.  Nat- 
urally these  forms  gradually  outstripped  the 
others.  The  change  of  seasons,  which  became 
more  marked  through  the  progressive  cooling  of 
the  earth's  crust  and  the  clarification  of  the  at- 
mosphere, was  instrumental  in  creating  warm- 
blooded animals  and  ultimately  man  arose  out  of 
them  as  the  crown  of  creation.  The  warm- 
blooded animals,  who  were  not  by  far  so  well 
armed  as  the  reptilian  monsters,  rose  to  suprem- 
acy because  the  coming  of  winter  delivered  these 
giants  helplessly  into  their  power. 

However,  before  this  fundamental  transforma- 
tion took  place,  another  geological  product  inter- 

108 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

vened,  the  chalk.  Its  strata  consist  mainly  of 
huge  deposits  of  those  minute  living  beings  which 
swim  in  the  free  water  of  the  oceans.  These  are 
the  so-called  foraminiferce  and  radiolaria,  whose 
chalk  and  flint  skeletons  constitute  to  this  day  the 
greater  part  of  the  muck  of  the  seas.  The  fossil 
remains  of  that  period  show  that  life  was  in  a 
process  of  constant  development,  also  in  the 
oceans.  The  fishes,  which  first  had  a  hard  shell 
like  the  crustaceans  that  were  their  ancestors  and 
which  had  only  cartilage  for  the  solid  support  of 
their  bodies,  gradually  acquired  a  bony  skeleton 
like  the  most  perfect  species  of  fish  in  our  day. 
We  have  already  mentioned  that  the  primitive 
life  of  the  sea  approaches  the  living  forms  of  the 
present  much  more  rapidly  than  the  primitive  ter- 
restrial forms  do,  because  the  conditions  of  ex- 
istence in  the  seas  have  been  modified  far  less 
than  those  of  the  land.  Indeed,  after  the  estab- 
lishment of  geographical  zones  had  permanently 
covered  the  poles  of  the  earth  with  ice,  the  con- 
ditions on  the  bottom  of  the  seas  tended  to  be- 
come constant,  for  now  the  densest  water  pro- 
duced by  the  melting  of  the  polar  ice,  at  a  tem- 
perature of  4  degrees  above  zero,  continually 
flowed  over  the  bottom  of  all  seas  and  kept  it  at 
about  this  same  temperature  all  around  the  globe. 

109 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

In  other  words,  there  is  no  classification  into 
zones  in  the  depths  of  the  seas  now,  and  there 
never  was  any.  We  have  good  grounds  for  as- 
suming that  caps  of  ice  permanently  gathered  at 
the  poles  during  the  Cretaceous  period,  and  for 
this  reason  the  animal-world  of  the  chalky  seas 
was  not  materially  altered  compared  to  that  of 
our  own  period.  It  is  thought,  for  instance,  that 
a  few  of  the  giant  saurians,  such  as  we  find 
fossilized  in  the  chalk,  are  still  living  in  the  depths 
of  our  oceans.  The  famous  sea-serpent  is  de- 
clared to  be  no  mere  phantasy.  Repeated  reports 
concerning  this  marine  monster  are  said  to  agree 
too  well  and  to  indicate  the  existence  of  such  a 
reptile  of  the  dim  primeval  ages,  one  of  those  rare 
specimens  which  saved  themselves  by  taking  their 
refuge  in  the  darkness  of  the  oceans. 

The  establishment  of  distinct  seasons  is  also 
indicated  by  the  fact  that  these  sediments  show 
the  first  remains  of  deciduous  plants.  This  was 
an  extraordinary  progress  of  plant-life  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  vegetation  of  the  present. 

The  fact  that  no  remains  of  mammals  are  found 
in  the  chalk  does  not  prove  their  entire  absence  at 
that  period,  because  these  strata  were  mainly  de- 
posited in  the  seas  of  that  age.  But  it  reveals  at 
least  that  mammals  were  of  little  importance  in 

no 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  total  make-up  of  the  animal  life  of  that  period, 
and  that  they  had  not  made  any  marked  progress 
from  their  earlier  stages. 

But  suddenly  the  day  of  our  present  creation 
breaks  as  gloriously  as  a  sunrise  in  the  tropics. 
We  enter  into  a  new  period,  the  Cainozoic,  which 
stands  in  marked  contrast  to  the  preceding,  the 
Mesosoic. 

The  first  division  of  the  Cainozoic  period  is 
caled  the  Tertiary  formation.  It  is  subdivided 
into  the  Eocene,  which  is  the  dawn  of  the  new 
age,  furthermore  the  Oligocene,  the  Miocene,  and 
the  Pliocene. 

It  is  this  Tertiary  age,  in  which  those  tremen- 
dous terrestrial  revolutions  took  place  which  gave 
birth  to  most  of  the  great  mountain  chains  of  this 
globe.  Whole  rows  of  volcanoes  sprang  up  in 
the  course  of  this  upheaval,  and  the  geographical 
aspect  of  the  surface  of  the  earth  approached  that 
of  our  time. 

The  struggle  against  such  fundamental  terres- 
trial revolutions  necessarily  transformed  the  liv- 
ing beings  engaged  in  it.  Among  plants  we  see 
flowering  forms  unfold  with  great  vigor,  a  proof 
that  sunshine  and  spring  had  come.  During  the 
first  stages  of  the  Tertiary  period  the  new  plants, 
which  belong  nowadays  mostly  to  the  temperate 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

zone,  grew  still  side  by  side  with  tropical  ones. 
Our  regions  enjoyed  still  a  subtropical  climate, 
then,  which  reached  far  beyond  the  present  polar 
circle.  I  have  collected  the  fine  large  leaf  shown 
in  our  cut  in  the  Tertiary  strata  of  Spitzbergen, 
where  the  sun  does  not  rise  for  three  months  and 
where  deciduous  foliage  is  .represented  by  a 
stunted  birch  hiding  among  the  moss.22  But  the 
remains  in  the  higher  strata  of  the  Tertiary  for- 
mation show  clearly  that  the  conditions  of  tem- 
perature and  the  gradation  into  zones  became 
more  and  more  similar  to  those  of  the  present 
day.  Everything  pressed  forward  into  our  own 
beautiful  age. 

Accordingly  the  monster  reptiles  suffered  a  set- 
back, as  we  indicated  before.  The  warm-blooded 
animals  developed  in  their  stead  and  assumed 
gigantic  proportions.  We  meet  no  less  terrible 
monsters  among  the  mammals  of  this  period  than 
we  did  among  the  Jurassic  reptiles.  Our  cuts 
show  some  of  them.23*24  They  were  at  first  not 
very  markedly  similar  to  present  forms,  but  they 
approach  these  forms  visibly  in  the  higher  Ter- 
tiary strata. 

Together  with  the  imperfectly  developed  apes 
of  this  period,  a  being  appeared  among  these 
primitive  forms  that  may  have  been  the  ancestor 

112 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  man.  Wilhelm  Bolsche  has  treated  this  point 
very  fully  in  his  "  Evolution  of  Man." 

This  vigorous  forward  development  of  life  on 
our  planet  was  interrupted  by  the  mysterious  Ice 
Age,  with  its  repeated  changes  of  temperature. 
We  have  referred  to  its  probable  causes  on  pre- 
ceding pages.  Just  as  the  coming  of  the  change 
of  seasons  in  the  beginning  of  the  Tertiary  period 
brought  about  the  natural  selection  of  more  per- 
fectly adapted  forms  and  thus  created  the  multi- 
tudinous race  of  mammals,  so  the  struggle  against 
tens  of  thousands  of  years  of  variation  through 
seasons  and  temperature  on  the  edges  of  the  ad- 
vancing glaciers  transformed  an  animal  into  a 
man.  No  mere  adaptation  through  a  change  of 
bodily  structure  was  sufficient  in  this  struggle. 
Only  the  growth  of  an  intelligence  which  knew 
how  to  master  the  hostile  elements  of  nature  could 
accomplish  this  step. 

Thus  we  arrive  at  the  highest  stage  of  vital 
development.  Man  was  born.  He  conquered 
the  earth.  His  intelligence  increased  to  such  a 
wondrous  degree  that  it  could  encompass  the  en- 
tire universe.  An  entirely  new  direction  of  crea- 
tion was  thereby  inaugurated.  We  are  still  mov- 
ing upon  the  lowest  plane  of  this  new  course. 
We  are  the  protozoans  among  the  intelligent  be- 

113 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

ings  that  control  the  forces  of  nature.  We  have 
entered  upon  the  road  toward  inconceivably  glo- 
rious aims. 

Penck  claims  that  there  were  at  least  four  long 
Ice  Ages,  each  of  which  is  distinguished  by  its 
own  variations  of  temperature.  Warmer  spells 
were  interpolated  between  each  cold  period,  and 
in  those  mild  times  the  melting  glaciers  produced 
a  luxuriant  growth  of  grass  in  wet  valleys.  For 
this  reason  it  was  especially  the  herbivorous  ani- 
mals which  could  develop  during  those  intergla- 
cial  periods.  In  the  deposits  of  this  Quaternary 
period,  which  comprises  the  Ice  Ages,  and  in 
those  of  the  Diluvium,  which  followed  the  last 
general  glaciation,  of  which  our  own  period  is 
still  a  continuation,  we  encounter  those  gigantic 
pachyderms,  such  as  the  mammoth,  whose  re- 
mains we  find  frequently  in  a  frozen  state,  with 
the  flesh  and  hair  still  intact.  Even  these  giants 
were  assaulted  by  man,  and  he  vanquished  them. 

We  have  come  to  the  end  of  our  presentation 
of  the  making  of  the  world,  which  we  saw  blos- 
soming into  its  present  beauty  out  of  chaotic 
primitive  darkness.  We  limited  our  observations 
during  the  last  half  of  this  work  to  the  earth, 
because  we  know  only  of  its  special  phases  of  de- 
velopment. But  wherever  we  were  able  to  make 

114 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

any  comparisons,  we  ascertained  a  general  uni- 
formity in  the  materials  which  build  worlds  and 
in  the  natural  forces  acting  through  them.  And 
the  heavens  still  show  us  an  almost  complete  uni- 
formity in  all  great  principles  of  world-develop- 
ment. In  view  of  these  facts  we  cannot  doubt 
that  there  are  millions  of  globes  like  ours  in  the 
vast  structure  of  the  universe,  even  though  we 
have  no  information  about  them.  As  for  the 
relatives  of  the  earth,  the  other  planets  of  our 
solar  system,  which  are  the  only  ones  accessible  to 
a  closer  scrutiny  on  our  part,  they  differ  from 
our  globe  only  in  such  a  way  as  children  of  the 
same  parents  in  different  stages  of  growth.  We 
need  not  wonder,  therefore,  that  they  do  not  ex- 
hibit any  definite  traces  of  such  a  life  as  that  of 
our  earth.  Mars  with  its  canals  also  leaves  us 
in  doubt.  But  I  may  speak  more  clearly  on  this 
point  in  one  of  the  following  volumes  of  this 
library. 

When  we  look  up  to  the  starry  firmament  with 
its  millions  of  suns,  we  may  be  sure  that  the  eyes 
of  intelligent  beings  on  other  globes  are  scanning 
our  sun,  just  as  we  are  theirs,  looking  for  kin- 
dred intellects.  Perhaps  the  time  is  not  far  when 
our  mastery  over  the  forces  of  nature  which  ex- 
tend through  the  entire  universe  will  be  so  great 

115 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

that  we  can  send,  not  only  our  glances,  but  our 
voices  to  our  brothers  on  other  globes  —  and  get 
an  answer  from  them.  Life  has  come  out  of  the 
depths  of  the  universe  to  us,  at  least  that  is  the 
only  explanation  we  have.  It  spread  over  this 
globe  from  the  most  minute  beginnings.  It  ex- 
panded the  horizon  of  the  animal  into  that  of 
man,  who  can  encompass  not  only  things  next 
to  him,  but  also  his  whole  planet,  and  who  can 
speed  with  his  thoughts  through  the  universe 
from  which  the  germs  of  his  life  have  come. 
Perhaps  he  will  be  able,  at  some  future  time,  to 
enter  into  intellectual  communication  with  more 
highly  organized  beings  on  other  world-bodies 
and  to  exchange  his  knowledge  for  theirs,  just  as 
our  minds  can  now  enter  into  communion  with 
other  human  minds  without  touching  them  bod- 
ily. 

Our  intellect,  with  its  power  and  knowledge, 
has  the  universe  open  to  it. 

But  no  matter  how  highly  our  world  and  others 
in  the  universe  may  develop,  there  will  be  a  time 
when  they  must  descend.  The  circulation  of  uni- 
versal development  must  alternate  between  rise 
and  descent.. 

The  circulation!  Is  this  term  correct?  If  the 
universal  process  were  swinging  indeed  back  and 

116 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

:  forth  between  such  cycles,  we  might  justly  ask 
scornfully  or  even  despairingly  why  we  must  for- 
ever turn  around  in  a  circle,  what  we  are  living 
for,  since  we  and  all  worlds  must  always  be  de- 
stroyed. Then  all  our  striving  for  perfection, 
all  our  incessant  endeavors,  would  be  in  vain.  Is 
it  not  a  blasphemous  stultification  of  the  spirit 
of  the  universe,  who  created  all  this,  to  think  that 
this  resistless  impulse  toward  higher  develop- 
ment, which  is  stirring  not  in  us  alone,  not  merely 
in  all  living  things,  but  in  every  particle  of  na- 
ture, should  lead  to  nothing  but  destruction? 
Should  this  impulse  build  up  ever  higher  organi- 
zations of  matter,  from  a  growing  atom  to  sys- 
tems of  Milky  Ways  and  finally  produce  the  de- 
sire for  good,  only  to  end  in  chaos  ?  Would  not 
our  existence  be  useless  and  not  worth  the  pains 
which  we  continually  endure  in  the  struggle 
against  all  imperfections,  if  the  entire  universe 
in  which  we  live  had  no  purpose? 

But  what  can  be  the  purpose  of  the  universe? 
Is  it  there  for  our  enjoyment?  Or  is  it  there  in 
order  that  we  may  share  the  feeling  of  the  pessi- 
mists who  derived  their  despair  from  such 
thoughts  as  these?  Should  we  forever  suffer 
with  them?  We  could  think  so  while  we  im- 
agined that  man  and  his  world  were  the  center 

:  117 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  the  universe.  But  Copernicus,  it  is  said, 
hurled  us  back  into  the  Naught.  We  know  now 
that  we  are  less  than  infusorian  animals  which 
swarm  in  every  drop  of  sea  water  by  thousands. 
The  world-process  cares  no  more  about  our  suf- 
ferings, our  despair,  our  happiness,  than  we  do 
when  we  inadvertently  kill  thousands  of  minute 
beings  by  a  step  of  our  foot. 

Is  not  this  thought  still  more  terrifying  and 
crushing?  We  are  supposed  to  be  nothing  but 
mere  specks  of  dust  in  a  stupendous  and  feeling- 
less  chaos  of  wheels  speeding  eternally  through 
the  infinite  universe  without  an  aim.  Then  why 
have  just  these  specks  of  dust  feelings  and  an 
intellect  which  in  spite  of  its  minuteness  can 
grasp  the  immeasurable,  or  dream  df  it?  Is  it 
only  in  order  that  we  might  feel  the  unfathomable 
chasm  which  surrounds  us  on  all  sides  of  our 
solitary  cell? 

How  meanly,  how  narrowly,  think  those  who 
ask  such  questions!  They  measure  large  and 
small,  insignificant  and  worth  while,  by  their  own 
petty  standards.  Cannot  a  small  body  be  as  valu- 
able, or  infinitely  more  so,  than  the  immense 
body  with  its  tremendously  clumsy  effects  which 
often  destroy  more  than  they  build?  We  took  a 
peep  into  the  world  of  atoms  and  saw  that  in 

118 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

invisibly  minute  dimensions  an  inscrutable  mul- 
tiplicity of  events  was  working  with  great  force 
to  build  incessantly  the  structure  of  the  universe, 
while  the  tangible  substance  composed  of  those 
molecular  world-systems  lies  inert.  Heat,  light, 
electricity  are  born  only  out  of  the  forces  of  these 
minute  particles,  and  with  them  all  chemical  ef- 
fects on  which  the  birth  and  death  of  the  visible 
world  are  conditioned.  The  wonderful  carpet  of 
living  nature  is  woven  by  these  smallest  meshes 
of  atomic  organization. 

We  cannot  close  our  mind  to  the  fact  that  there 
is  a  striving  for  a  higher  order,  for  a  more  com- 
plex organization,  at  least  in  that  portion  of  the 
universe  and  that  span  of  time  which  we  can  ob- 
serve. This  striving  clearly  reveals  the  aim  of 
our  section  of  the  universe.  It  is  the  aim  to  pro- 
duce out  of  simple  structures  the  more  complex. 
This  supplies  us  with  a  standard  of  measurement 
for  that  which  is  really  of  value,  and  not  for  man 
alone.  From  this  point  of  view  a  single  molecule 
of  protein  is  more  valuable  than  a  whole  moun- 
tain of  elementary  substances,  for  instance  of 
limestone.  A  molecule  of  lime  consists  of  one 
atom  of  calcium,  one  atom  of  carbon,  and  three 
atoms  of  oxygen.  Protein  consists  of  five  ele- 
ments, namely  of  the  four  so-called. organogens, 

119 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

to  wit,  carbon,  hydrogen,  oxygen,  and  nitrogen, 
and  of  a  small  percentage  of  sulphur.  But  many 
thousands  of  these  atoms  arrange  themselves  in 
one  protein  molecule  in  a  solid  and  very  compli- 
cated order  which  has  not  been  fully  analyzed. 
They  swing  around  a  common  center  and  form 
a  world-system  compared  to  which  our  solar  sys- 
tem is  very  simply  organized.  An  atom  of  car- 
bon therefore  becomes  immensely  valuable  when 
it  has  risen  in  the  scale  of  the  world-process  from 
a  molecule  of  limestone  to  that  of  protein.  A 
protein  molecule  is  more  valuable  because  nature 
can  accomplish  more  with  it  by  assigning  more 
complicated  tasks  to  it  in  the  work  of  higher  de- 
velopment. And  for  this  reason  the  highest  duty 
of  the  atomic  world,  at  least  on  earth,  must  be 
to  form  a  molecule  of  protein  in  the  brain  of  man, 
so  that  he  may  lead  the  forces  of  nature  by  its 
help  and  thereby  hasten  the  world-development 
into  a  faster  pace  than  it  would  assume  without 
a  guiding  intelligence. 

For  this  reason,  also,  the  brain  of  a  single  hu- 
man being  is  worth  more  than  whole  flocks  of 
suns,  even  from  a  higher  point  of  view  than  a 
purely  human  one.  In  those  clusters  of  suns  the 
elements  are  crudely  arranged.  The  world-de- 
velopment progresses  by  first  arranging  large 

120 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

bodies  out  of  small  ones  in  a  rough  way  and  then 
working  out  small  details  out  of  the  rough,  thus 
making  the  small  ultimately  more  valuable  than 
the  large.  So  does  a  sculptor  proceed  in  working 
out  a  statue.  In  this  clarified  view  we  human 
beings  are  more  valuable  than  anything  else  on 
earth.  Of  course,  we  must  recognize  at  the 
same  time  that  we  can  hold  this  position  only  by 
utilizing  the  highest  organization  of  matter, 
which  we  are,  for  the  further  progress  of  the 
whole.  For  the  value  of  each  individual  organi- 
zation is  measured  by  its  usefulness  for  higher 
stages.  An  egoist  who  thinks  only  of  himself 
and  his  own  particular  welfare  becomes  useless  or 
dangerous  for  the  whole,  and  the  community  iso- 
lates him  more  and  more  or  expels  him.  By  this 
necessary  reaction  against  himself  the  egoist 
feels  that  the  world  surrounding  him  interferes 
with  his  overestimation  of  himself,  and  so  he 
hates  it  more  and  more  and  becomes  a  pessimist. 
He  has  as  little  use  for  the  world  as  the  world 
has  for  him,  because  he  has  no  useful  purpose 
in  it. 

However,  all  these  considerations  do  not  do 
away  with  the  fact  that  all  this  must  come  to  an 
end.  Even  the  most  complicated  protein  mole- 
cule in  the  brain  of  the  greatest  of  all  thinkers 

121 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

must  decay  some  day  and  dissolve  into  its  primi- 
tive components.  And  all  thoughts  which  have 
blossomed  in  the  countless  aeons,  and  all  crea- 
tions of  man  and  nature,  must  ultimately  sink 
back  into  chaos  from  whence  they  came.  No 
step  forward  has  ever  been  made  for  all  eternity, 
and  none  are  enduringly  valuable.  Everything 
must  return  from  whence  it  came. 

And  if  it  were  really  so,  should  we  complain? 
Is  not  this  striving  for  perfection,  which  is  ex- 
hibited by  all  sentient  creatures,  a  source  of  in- 
finite joy  to  them,  or  at  least  to  us?  Would  we 
be  happier  if  fortune  fell  into  our  lap  without 
any  struggle  of  our  own? 

These  questions  are  rather  out  of  place  here. 
But  we  must  answer  at  least  one  of  them.  Do 
all  the  cycles  of  the  world-process  return  to  the 
zero  point  ?  Does  nothing  remain  of  the  old  cre- 
ation after  the  end  of  some  world?  Is  the  bal- 
ance of  the  universe  really  equal  to  zero? 

It  is  certainly  not  so  in  the  individual  stages  of 
world-growth.  According  to  the  views  presented 
in  this  work  the  atoms  are  also  destroyed  within 
their  own  world-systems.  But  in  the  disintegra- 
tion of  a  radium  atom,  which  represents  a  climax 
in  the  evolution  of  that  atomic  world,  we  observe 
that  it  radiates  not  only  electrons,  those  smallest 

122 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  all  particles  of  matter  known  to  us,  but  also 
quite  a  number  of  other  and  larger  particles. 
The  disintegrating  atomic  world  does  not  revert 
completely  to  its  primitive  condition.  The  larger 
particles,  when  forming  centers  of  new  worlds, 
will  rise  more  rapidly  into  higher  stages  than 
they  would  if  they  had  to  start  from  a  more  prim- 
itive condition,  like  the  smaller  ones.  And  the 
same  holds  good  in  the  case  of  large  celestial 
bodies.  Their  lifetime  is  likewise  limited.  In 
the  process  of  evolution  which  leads  to  the  union 
of  two  shattered  world-bodies  and  the  birth  of  a 
new  one,  large  lumps  of  matter  lag  behind  and 
thereby  determine  the  great  outlines  of  the  newly 
arising  system.  We  also  notice  the  same  fact 
in  the  intermediate  stages.  Every  dying  indi- 
vidual represents  the  end  of  a  world.  But  every 
new  generation  adds  something  new  to  the  things 
inherited  from  its  ancestors,  although  each  gen- 
eration must  start  out  from  the  age  of  childhood. 
A  tree  sheds  its  leaves  in  the  winter  but  bears 
still  more  leaves  in  the  next  summer.  And  it 
continues  this  until  it  declines  in  old  age  and  falls 
to  pieces.  But  in  the  meantime  the  young  trees 
have  grown  up  in  its  stead  and  strive  for  higher 
development. 
The  various  organizations  in  all  stages  of  the 

123 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

world-process  branch  out  more  and  more.  Pri- 
mordial atoms  become  chemical  atoms,  and  al- 
though these  have  a  limit  of  development  they 
can  assemble  into  molecules.  When  the  cold  in- 
creases, the  orbits  of  the  molecules  become 
smaller,  the  substances  contract,  and  this  process 
may  continue  so  far  that  the  forces  available  in 
that  stage  do  not  suffice  to  effect  a  separation 
of  the  molecules  into  atoms.  We  might  imagine 
that  such  processes  as  these  produced  the  chem- 
ical atoms  which  we  cannot  divide  any  more. 
The  molecules  then  group  themselves  into  sys- 
tems of  a  higher  order,  and  we  can  plainly 
demonstrate  this.  A  crystal  consists  of  an  in- 
finite number  of  molecules,  which,  arranged  in 
a  wonderful  order,  form  a  new  body.  Analogic- 
ally we  may  regard  world-bodies  as  crystals  of  a 
higher  order,  or  even  as  atoms,  and  the  Milky 
Way  as  a  molecule  of  the  largest  order.  We 
have  seen  that  world-bodies  also  approach  one 
another  continually,  that  the ,  sun-atoms  forming 
a  Milky  Way  grow  into  larger  atoms  which  be- 
come inseparable  in  a  higher  stage.  Thus  worlds 
grow  from  one  stage  into  another.  Atoms  be- 
come suns,  and  suns  are  but  atoms  of  another 
stage  of  development.  We  cannot  find  either  a 
beginning  or  an  end  in  the ,  scale  of  universal 

N  124 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

evolution.  There  is  nothing  to  prevent  us  from 
assuming  that  chemical  atoms  are  world-bodies 
carrying  life  on  their  surface  like  our  earth,  and 
that  the  earth  is  but  a  skeleton  of  a  living  organ- 
ism in  which  human  beings  play  but  the  role  of 
cells,  hastening  hither  and  thither  like  blood  cor- 
puscles and  contributing  toward  the  preservation 
of  the  whole. 

And  since  we  do  not  observe  any  limit  down- 
ward or  upward  in  this  regular  succession  of  nat- 
ural development,  we  have  no  means  of  ascer- 
taining whether  there  is  any  limit  to  the  possi- 
bilities of  higher  evolution.  There  was  a  time 
when  it  was  said  that  the  entire  universe  must 
come  to  an  end,  because  the  extreme  cold  of  space 
would  ultimately  render  all  world-bodies  rigid. 
This  would  imply  that  all  the  circling  motions 
of  atoms,  which  cause  heat  and  all  other  chem- 
ical and  physical  phenomena,  would  cease,  so  that 
there  would  be  a  perfect  equilibration  of  forces 
and  a  complete  rest  and  inactivity.  This  condi- 
tion was  supposed  to  last  eternally  after  it  had 
been  established.  That  is  to  say,  the  world  would 
be  marching  toward  a  death  from  which  there 
would  be  no  resurrection. 

Our  point  of  view  does  not  enable  us  to  share 
this  opinion.  Of  course,  it  is  certain  that  the 


125 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

internal  motions  of  the  present  atoms  in  their 
molecules  must  cease,  whenever  they  reach  the 
point  of  absolute  zero.  But  this  means  simply 
that  the  molecules  have  become  atoms  of  a  higher 
development,  and  that  the  universe,  instead  of 
falling  into  eternal  death,  is  starting  on  a  higher 
cycle.  Take  it  that  the  matter  of  the  entire  solar 
system  had  gathered  and  reached  its  maximum 
of  density,  so  that  not  the  smallest  particle  could 
move  within  this  cosmic  atom,  then  it  would  still 
have  its  motion  through  space,  just  as  the  primor- 
dial atoms  had  once  upon  a  time.  And  this 
cosmic  atom  would  find  another  cosmic  atom  at 
some  time,  with  which  it  would  unite  and  form 
a  new  molecule.  In  their  tremendous  collision 
each  cosmic  atom  would  be  partially  dissolved 
into  primordial  atoms.  This  we  have  seen  tak- 
ing place  in  the  case  of  the  new  star  in  Perseus. 
The  world-process  can  come  to  an  end  only  if 
the  matter  of  the  universe  is  something  finite,  if 
it  is  not  incorporated  in  an  infinity  of  worlds 
which  unite  into  ever  new  organizations.  So  far 
as  we  can  see,  search,  and  think,  the  universe  is 
infinitely  great.  Whether  it  is  really  infinite  we 
do  not  know  and  shall  never  know.  Only  an 
infinite  spirit  can  grasp  the  infinite.* 

*  See  Joseph  Dietzgen's  essays  on  this  point. —  TRANS- 
LATOR. 

IStfi 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  WORLD 

So  far  as  our  faculty  of  cognition  reaches, 
then,  we  cannot  conceive  of  any  limits  to  the 
infinite  upward  development  of  the  universe. 
Let  us  enjoy  our  share  of  work  in  this  eternal 
uplifting,  and  be  happy  in  the  thought  that  it 
can  never  come  to  an  end. 

Not  an  atom  is  lost  in  the  universe.  Neither 
is  the  value  of  our  work  in  the  struggle  for  per- 
fection ever  destroyed.  We  do  not  live  in  vain. 


127 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Figure   1.     Corona  of  the  Sun  during  a  Total  Eclipse. 


129 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figure  2.     (See  page  13.)     The  Nebula  in  Orion,  after  a 
drawing  made  at  the  Washington,  D.  C.,  observatory. 


130 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figure    3.      (See    page    15.)      Spiral    Nebula    in    Canes 
Venatici.    Photographic  plate  of  Yerkes  observatory. 


131 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figure  4.     (See  page  15.)     Nebula  in  Andromeda.    Photo- 
graphic plate  of  Yerkes  observatory. 


132 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figure  5.  (See  page  31.)  Granulation  of  the  Sun's 
Surface.  Photographic  plate  of  Meudon  (France) 
observatory. 


133 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figure  6.     (See  page  33.)     Star  Cluster  in  the  Centaur. 


134 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figure  7.      (See   page   34.)     Milky  Way  in   6  Anseris. 
Photographic  plate  by  Professor  Wolf  of  Heidelberg. 


135 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figures.     (See  page  35.     America  Nebula.    Photographic 
plate  by  Professor  Wolf  of  Heidelberg. 


136 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figure  9.      (See  page  47.)      Sunspots,  after  the  photo- 
graphic sun  atlas  of  the  Meudon  observatory. 


137 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figure  10.  (See  page  49.)  Protuberances  at  the  cir- 
cumference of  the  sun.  The  sun  is  eclipsed  by  the 
moon. 


138 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figure    11.       (See    page    69.)      Geyser    in    Yellowstone 
Park,  Rocky  Mountains. 


139 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figure  12.     (See  page  74.)     A  Crease  in  the  Rocks  on 
Axen  Road,  Switzerland. 


140 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figure  13.     (See  page  89.)     A  Cambrian  Trilobite. 


Figure    14.      (See    page    91.)      Silurian    Crawfish,    after 
Fraas. 


141 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


figure  16.     (See  page  95.)     Landscape  from  the  Carbon- 
iferous Period. 


14*; 


THE   MAKING   OF  THE   WORLD 


Figure    15.       (See    page    92.)      A    Devonian    Fish    with 
Armored  Shell,  after  Zittel,  Palaeozoology. 


Figure    17.      (See   page    102.)      Ichthyosaurus    from   the 
English  Lias,  after  Owen. 


143 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figure   18.      (See  page   102.)      Skeleton  of  Plesiosaurus 
from  the  English  Lias,  after  Fraas. 


144 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figure  19.  (See  page  104.)  Ceratosaurus,  a  giant  Lizard 
from  the  Jura.  Restored  by  Gleeson  in  the  Smith- 
sonian Reports. 


145 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figure   20.      (See   page    104.)      Pterodactylu3   from    the 
Solnhofen   Slate,   after   H.   von   Meyer. 


146 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figure  21.  (page  106.) 
Arehaeopteryx  from  Solu- 
hofen,  now  at  the  Berlin 
Museum,  after  Zittel,  Pal- 
jeozoology. 
147 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figure  22.  (See  page  112.)  Petrified  Leaves,  found  in 
Spitzbergen,  after  a  photographic  plate  by  the 
author. 


148 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figure  23.  (See  page  112.)  Triceratops,  a  Pachyderm 
of  the  Tertiary  Period,  after  a  model  by  Ch.  R. 
Knight  in  Washington  Museum. 


149 


THE    MAKING    OF    THE    WORLD 


Figure  24.      (See  page  112.)     Mastodon   (restored)  from 
the  time  of  the  Diluvium,  after  Smithsonian  Reports. 


150 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 

MAR  21 1967  /' 


20  '67-9  AM 


NOV    V  1969  4 


24  "69  -2 


LD  21A-60m-7,'66 
(G4427slO)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


